Infrastructure woes exposed in southwest Edmonton as commute times increase

Residents of Edmonton's Glenridding neighbourhood say it can take up to an hour for them to get to work because of congestion. Connor Hogg reports.

Commuters in southwest Edmonton are frustrated over rush-hour traffic that keeps getting worse at a major intersection.

The intersection of Ellerslie Road and Rabbit Hill Road SW sees one lane of traffic heading in each direction, but with more people moving to the area in recent years, the commute time has gone up significantly, say residents who face traffic jams each workday.

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Glenridding resident Tygean Mungongo says his commute time going downtown has more than doubled over the last two years, saying it takes him up to 70 minutes to drive to the city core compared to just under half an hour two years ago.

“A little bit of traffic in a developing community is to be expected – the infrastructure maybe isn’t quite where it needs to be at that point in time – but we’ve seen it get really, really bad over the last couple of years,” Mungongo told CTV News Edmonton on Sunday.

“This year, especially, with kids going back to school and everyone kind of getting back in the swing of things post-summer, we’ve seen a huge backup on this road, unfortunately.”

Egor Kardashevskiy, also of Glenridding, echoes Mungongo, saying he faces “quite significant delays when it comes to going to work.”

“We only have one lane (each direction), and I think we have to expand the roads to avoid any problems with the traffic in the future,” he told CTV News Edmonton. “It’s been two years now, and when I just moved in, it was much better. But now, with the new (home) builds and so many families who’ve moved here, it’s getting worse every day.”

Tim Cartmell, the city councillor for the area and a mayoral candidate in this fall’s municipal election, says that the expansion of the intersection hinges on the development of property on the southeast corner of it.

“We’re stuck,” he told CTV News Edmonton on Friday, describing the effect traffic has on residents in Ambleside, Chappelle, Glenridding Heights and Glenridding Ravine. “All we can do is play with it, with (stop-light) timings, but if you make this left turn longer, then the one in the other direction is shorter.

“This is absolutely a pinch point for the whole neighbourhood. It needs to be fixed. I want to fix it, but until that land is available, we can’t.”

Cartmell said this particular southwest traffic tangle isn’t unique in the city. He pointed to similar traffic woes on the nearby 141 Street at Ellerslie Road, where plans are afoot to improve it, on 66 Street in the northeast, and on 91 Street and Parsons Road in the southeast.

“There’s a pinch point everywhere in the city,” he said, acknowledging that this time of year typically sees drivers adjusting to children returning to school and people returning to work after summer vacation times. “This is where we need to invest in roadway infrastructure.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson, Brandon Lynch and Darcy Seaton