Alberta provincial highway 201

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201

Alberta Highway 201 is a highway in the province of Alberta. Although the highway is given a three-digit designation, it is considered a primary highway and not a secondary highway. It is considered one of the two Alberta ring roads, and is located entirely within the city of Calgary.

Highway 201 is mainly designed so as to provide a quick way for travellers to pass through the city of Calgary, as the Trans-Canada Highway (designated Highway 1, from which Highway 201 bears its name) would not have to pass through the urban areas of the city.

Highway 201 is split into two sections, designated as Stoney Trail and the yet-to-be-constructed East Freeway (although the latter is a temporary name).

1 Stoney Trail
2 East Freeway
3 Southwest Calgary Ring Road
4 Related Links

[edit] Stoney Trail

Stoney Trail consists of the western and northern part of the ring road, and, at its completion, will effectively be a freeway link between 16 Avenue (Trans-Canada Highway) and Deerfoot Trail (Highway 2). It is to be noted that although 16 Avenue does intersect directly with Deerfoot Trail, travellers from the west must go through the city's urban area to do so - Stoney Trail effectively prevents this.

At the western end of Stoney Trail, the road continues as a two-lane road as 101 Street, although eventually, Stoney Trail will be given a new route beside 101 Street and continue south to Alberta Highway 8 at Glenmore Trail.

As of 2005, only the portion extending northbound from 16 Avenue past Crowchild Trail (Alberta Highway 1A) to Country Hills Boulevard, a major northern road, has been completed. Although at this time it is a four-lane at-grade expressway and past Crowchild Trail to Country Hills it is a five-lane route, with an 80 km/h (50 mph) speed limit. At this time 201 is twinned, and construction is underway to connect the route to Deerfoot Trail. New overpasses are being built to make it into a true freeway at 16th Avenue, Tuscany Blvd/Scenic Acres Link and Crowchild Trail. The Province of Alberta has announced that the next phase of the highway, between Country Hills and Deerfoot Trail, will be completed in the next few years, ahead of the schedule originally considered by the city. This will involve construction of interchanges at Country Hills Blvd., a fly-over at Shaganappi Trail, and an underpass at Deerfoot Trail with additional interchanges to be constructed in the near future to replace any remaining at-grade intesections. In the future, six to eight lanes should be expected to take away highway congestion. Barlow Trail, a major north-south route that parallels Deerfoot Trail, is to be realigned to make room for the new Stoney Trail interchange.

Planning for construction of the southern leg of Stoney Trail, which will link from the current southern terminus at Highway 1 to Highway 8 is currently in progress, although construction is not anticipated to start for several years. This portion of the freeway will require a revision to the 16th Avenue interchange and additional overpasses and flyovers built at Old Banff Coach Road, Bow Trail, 17th Avenue S.W. and Glenmore Trail.

[edit] East Freeway

The East Freeway is a proposed freeway in Calgary that would link Marquis of Lorne Trail (Highway 22X) to Stoney Trail, along the city's eastern boundary. The roadway will run in a nearly straight line approximately halfway between 68th and 84th Streets north from 22X, before turning west to link up with Stoney Trail at Deerfoot Trail. The freeway will also continue past Secondary Highway 566.

In December 2005, the City of Calgary announced it was in talks with the province to fast-track construction of the East Freeway, which previously had been thought to be decades away from completion, so that it can be built within the next few years.

The name East Freeway is expected to be a temporary designation, as the city has (with a few exceptions) tended to name its freeways (locally referred to as "trails") with a Native Canadian theme. It had been assumed that the Stoney Trail name will not be used for the East Freeway portion of Highway 201, however a recent map posted on a Government of Alberta website identifies the East Freeway by the name Stoney Trail.[1]

[edit] Southwest Calgary Ring Road

The final leg of the Calgary Ring Road, currently known as the Southwest Calgary Ring Road, but also widely referred to as the Sarcee Trail Extension, is still in the initial planning and public consultation stages. The current proposed route will run from approximately the intersection of Highway 8 and Sarcee/Glenmore Trails, south through the Tsuu T'ina First Nation to eventually reach Highway 22X in the south of the city.

This route will allow construction to bypass the environmentally sensitive Weaselhead Natural Area through an agreement with the Tsuu T'ina First Nation and will allow for access to a proposed commercial/retail park on Tsuu T'ina land along the Ring Road. As of January 2006, a firm decision regarding connector roads from Calgary has yet to be made; although 90th Avenue S.W. and Southland Drive (being principal arterial roads in the area) have long been assumed to be the connectors, vocal opposition from residents over the last decade or more has led to a delay; at present, the city is debating whether to authorize both connector roads, or only one, or even none, though a no-connector decision would result in Anderson Road (currently a four to six-lane at-grade expressway) taking the bulk of traffic from the freeway, requiring major upgrades.

As of January 2006, a portion of the ring road already exists, running from Anderson Road south to 146th Avenue S.W. At the present time, this road is not being referred to officially as Sarcee Trail, but rather 37th Street S.W. (which was an upgrade of an existing two-lane rural minor arterial road). The decision by the city to refer to the proposed road as the Southwest Calgary Ring Road suggests that a name other than Sarcee Trail may be given to the new roadway, although the name Sarcee Trail is still being used in some street atlases.

[edit] Related Links

			Alberta Provincial Primary Highways v • d • e
1	1A	1X	2	2A	3	3A	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	11A	12	13	13A	14	15	16	16A	17	18	19
20	20A	21	22	22X	23	24	25	26	27	28	28A	30	31	32	33	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	41A	42	43	44
45	47	49	50	52	53	54	55	56	58	59	60	61	62	63	64	64A	66	68	69	72	88	93	93A	100	201	216