Public invited to view concept designs for future Whoop-Up Drive interchanges

He explains that there are also identified issues on University Drive in the morning and afternoon on the bridge turning left to get to the on-ramp to Whoop-Up Drive, as well as a bottleneck on McMaster in the evenings in the right-hand turn lane into the Jerry Potts area.

Those have been identified as “required improvements.” The Scenic Drive project is expected to cost around $10 million plus or minus 30 per cent, while the University Drive and McMaster projects come in around $13 million with the same financial parameters.

Medium term improvements are expected to cost $8 million and $24 million respectively and are at least 10-15 years down the road.

Those improvements include adding additional lanes on Scenic Drive, University Drive/Columbia Boulevard, and priority for transit at specially signalized intersections. It will also introduce a new bus stop and transit queue jump along University Drive, to facilitate a future university bus terminal.

Long term planning, which is defined in the planning study as anywhere from 20-30 years in the future, includes options for a third bridge and new multi-use pathways, and improved traffic flow in the Scenic and University areas.

All the plans however, still have to be presented to council.

“So, what has to happen is, it has to go into future CIPs (Capital Improvement Programs),” explains Brummund. “And so the five year one, that will be the first one that goes into the CIP process for council approval. And then we have two long-range plans. And the interesting part of that is that’s kind of tied to with and without the third river crossing.”

Council approved its latest 2018-2027 CIP last spring. It will be revisited once again in 2020, for the 2021-2030 programs.

Brummund says several potential options like even adding a new underpass or a new bridge along University Drive or adding large retaining walls or earth cuts along Scenic Drive were also considered for the current plan but were not approved.

“We had tunnels and we had all kinds of things and the stability of the soils come into play too, when you start to do too much work around coulees and large slopes. That has a big impact to your options and to your final decisions.”

The display is currently located in the foyer of City Hall and will remain there until 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Information on the new planning study is also on the City’s website: http://www.lethbridge.ca/living-here/Projects-Initiatives/Pages/WhoopUpInterchangeImprovements.aspx

by Lara Fominoff @LaraFominoff on Twitter

Public invited to view concept designs for future Whoop-Up Drive interchanges

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