The City of Calgary (The City) and Alberta Transportation (AT) have been working together to study Deerfoot Trail, approximately 35 kilometers of provincial highway, which includes 18 existing interchanges and one future interchange at 128 Avenue NE between the Stoney Trail interchanges in the north and south.
Deerfoot Trail is Calgary’s oldest freeway, and the busiest in Alberta. The majority of Deerfoot Trail was built between 1971 and 1982. The principal role of the highway is to provide an efficient, reliable, and safe connection for motor vehicle traffic and goods movement within, as well as to and from, the city. The City’s population has doubled since 1981 and the aging infrastructure is no longer meeting current travel demand, resulting in congestion, unreliability and safety concerns.
The purpose of the Deerfoot Trail Study, which began in 2016, has been to review the existing and forecasted operating conditions throughout the corridor and develop short, medium and long-term recommendations to enhance safety and mobility for all users within or crossing the highway facility. The study considered a range of possible freeway management strategies, including some new to Calgary, and tested these using forecasted growth out to the 2048 planning horizon. The focus was on making the most of the existing infrastructure, planning for future growth, and aligning with the Calgary Transportation Plan (CTP).
Speakers:
Ken Curry, P.Eng.
Vice President
Manager, Traffic and Transportation Planning
Professional Overview
Ken has over 30 years of planning, traffic engineering, and design experience across Western Canada and the US. He has participated and led a wide range of multi-disciplinary functional planning and design assignments ranging from large corridor planning studies, interchange functional designs, through to ITS applications including several reversible lane systems.
Ken led the transportation planning and traffic engineering input for the Gateway Program in the Metro Vancouver Region which involved the widening of Highway 1 over 35 kilometres and the upgrading of 18 interchanges. This project provided relevant background for the recently completed Deerfoot Trail Study where Ken provided technical direction.
Jeffrey Xu, MScE., P.Eng.
Project Manager
Professional Overview
Jeffrey was Project Manager for the Deerfoot Trail Study project. The study considered a range of possible freeway management strategies to improve safety and mobility in the short-, mid- and long-term. He has over 25 years’ experience of planning, design, construction and project management and has worked for consultants, Alberta Transportation and The City of Calgary delivering transportation projects.
Since joined the City’s Transportation Planning group in 2013, he has successfully delivered several major studies, including 16 Ave NE FPS, Airport Trail Upgrade FPS, and Glenmore Trail East FPS. He is working closely with Alberta Transportation on the Deerfoot Trail short-term improvement P3 project.
