Lane widening questions arise amid new southwest neighbourhood developments

A south Edmonton councillor says widening 41 Avenue SW should be a priority, but the city is prioritizing widening part of Ellerslie Road.

As city council approves plans for future neighbourhoods in the south west, one councillor wants to take a closer look at which roads will be upgraded as part of the process.

Council approved the Kendal neighbourhood development plan on Wednesday. As part of that plan, developers will eventually pay to widen Ellerslie Road SW between the Eco Station and Rabbit Hill Road SW to accommodate increasing traffic in Windermere and surrounding areas.

But there are no similar plans for 41 Avenue SW, another major thoroughfare in the area, which Ward Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi Coun. Jon Morgan says will get busier as traffic is diverted from Ellerslie.

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Lane widening and other traffic urbanization efforts are part of a neighbourhood developer’s responsibility to upgrade certain major roads as new communities, like Kendal, take shape.

Morgan told council on Wednesday there are currently five communities relying on 41 Avenue and Kendal would be the sixth.

“Literally thousands and thousands of people use that road every day … my concerns were that we have another community that is going to be abutting that avenue and using that road eventually, and no plans,” Morgan told CTV News Edmonton.

Morgan wants to see 41 Avenue twinned from Calgary Trail to 170 Street, and he’d like developers to pitch in.

When he brought those concerns to council, he was told there’s a certain threshold for developers to build road widening projects. In this case, 41 Avenue won’t be tapped unless the land south of the street is developed.

Still, city staff said part of 41 Avenue would eventually be urbanized to meet developer requirements – meaning crosswalks and traffic lights, but traffic would stay at two lanes.

Developers are expected to add one extra eastbound lane between the Allard neighbourhood and Highway 2 some time in the next two years, but anything else outside of that would be a city-led project.

Morgan says he wants to pitch a plan to widen 41 Avenue in the next budget.

In the meantime, city staff suggest commuters will be able to avoid traffic in the area by opting for routes along Terwillegar Drive.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson