City of Calgary to reduce stress on busy rush hour intersection

This spring, road crews will be constructing a U-turn lane on Bow Trail near Sarcee Trail S.W. to help drivers trying to navigate one of the city's busiest intersections. (Supplied)

Drivers finding themselves stuck in traffic on a busy southwest Calgary street will soon have a new opportunity to easily move through the area.

The City of Calgary says that is because work is soon to begin on a U-turn lane for Bow Trail at Sarcee Trail S.W.

Craig Donder, technical service delivery leader with the City of Calgary, says the intersection is one of the city's "busiest intersections that's fairly congested in all directions."

"This small, minor improvement is seen as a relatively low-cost way to offer a little bit of relief for the intersection operation," he told CTV News in an interview Thursday.

The improvement will allow eastbound traffic to go northbound on Sarcee Trail or restrict eastbound traffic to reduce congestion for the other directions of traffic.

"Also to provide people from Strathcona Park another option to go northbound on Sarcee Trail," Donder said.

The U-turn lane is just one part of the city's $4 million operational and safety improvements project. Work is also scheduled to take place on 16th Avenue N.W.

Some of that work includes increasing lanes on traffic loops, building new traffic loops, installing new bus pads and complete missing links to pathways.

All of the work is expected to be completed this fall.

Full details of the project are available online.