Upcoming Events

CSCE Dinner Presentation: Terwillegar Drive - A Solution for All Users in Constrained Times

Date: January 16, 2020

Time: 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM

Abstract:

Terwillegar Drive is a 5 km long roadway in Southwest Edmonton that was originally planned as a freeway with six interchange / access points. Terwillegar Drive serves two main functions: as a major north/south connection and connection between Anthony Henday Drive and Edmonton’s Inner Ring Road (Whitemud Drive), it’s a major link for inter-city and regional travel; and as the primary roadway through Southwest Edmonton it also serves an important local access function. Southwest Edmonton is anticipated to grow by up to 70,000 residents.

Planning and development in the area started in the 1970’s. A staged approach was implemented with frontage roads and at-grade intersections built to serve as connection points to Terwillegar Drive that were ultimately planned to be converted to interchanges. As the decades passed, several conceptual planning studies were completed to upgrade Terwillegar Drive to a freeway. Capital costs, reduction of local access, noise and visual intrusiveness were significant issues in developing the freeway; over the decades roadway planning and design standards evolved as did Edmonton’s land use and transportation policies as well as the public’s expectations for transit and alternative modes of travel.

An additional conceptual planning study was initiated and through an innovative process which included significant stakeholder and public engagement, technical considerations, and current land use and transportation policies, an alternative solution for the corridor was converged upon, an expressway.

The recommended solution to the challenges was simple and cost effective. An expressway solution balances the technical requirements, City goals, while introducing new elements to the corridor that represent public and stakeholder values. The Terwillegar Drive corridor will include dedicated transit facilities, a shared-use path (SUP) for active modes, additional travel lanes and intersection upgrades, the opportunity to install adaptive traffic signal technology, and preserves local access that the adjacent neighbours have enjoyed for decades – all at a fraction of the capital and operating cost that the previously planned freeway would have cost.

Presenters:

Christopher Wintle, P.Eng., City of Edmonton

Christopher is a Program Manager with the City of Edmonton, Transportation Planning and Design. He has 10 years of progressive engineering and project management experience. His interests lie in the planning and design of complex transportation projects. He has successfully delivered a wide variety of transportation studies and plans for the City of Edmonton.

Corry Broks, P.Eng., President, Al-Terra Engineering Ltd.

Corry has 40 years of transportation engineering experience. He has provided project management / technical oversight on transportation, planning, design and construction projects for complex urban and rural interchanges, and conventional roadway projects. His success in project delivery has resulted in many innovations and cost effective solutions for complex transportation issues.