Alberta Highway 22X
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Highway 22X is a highway in Alberta, Canada.
Highway 22X is an east-west branch of the north-south running, Highway 22. The 22X goes from the junction of Highway 24 and Highway 901, westerly to the junction of Highway 22 just east of Priddis over a distance of about 54 km (34 miles). The highway passes through southern Calgary, where it becomes Marquis of Lorne Trail (sometimes referred to by the French variant "Marquis de Lorne Trail"), and over Highway 2 (Deerfoot Trail within Calgary). When the highway crosses Macleod Trail (Highway 2A), it changes its name to Spruce Meadows Trail, after the show jumping facility of the same name that it passes. About 10 km (6 miles) after it exits the west end of the city, the 22X ends at Highway 22 just east of the village of Priddis.
[edit] Contemporary issues
The Marquis of Lorne Trail portion of 22X has, in recent history, earned a reputation of being extremely dangerous. Unprecedented southward growth of the city had turned the small rural highway (it remains a 2-lane rural arterial road in many places) into an urban street that was not suited for high traffic volumes. Major upgrades have taken place, and continue to take place, to make the stretch of highway safer, the most important of which being the extension of Deerfoot Trail southward to create a continuous Highway 2, reducing the need for trucks and other vehicles heading south to cut over to Macleod Trail via 22X. In the late 1990s the son of a motorist killed along 22X spearheaded efforts to have streetlights installed along the most dangerous stretch of road. Despite the completion of the Deerfoot, 22X remains a major access road for a half-dozen communities: Bridlewood, Somerset, Silverado, Sundance, Chaparall, McKenzie Lake and Cranston, with more planned such as Mahogany that will also rely on 22X as they develop.
As of late 2007, the latest upgrade project of twinning 22X has been completed. The deck for the second bridge that crosses Fish Creek Provincial Park and the Bow River has been completed. The four lanes no longer merge into two lanes, creating a substantial bottle neck. Highway 22X is also twinned west of Macleod Trail to a point beyond Calgary's city limits. It is also twinned between Macleod Trail and the Bow River Bridge, as well as east of the river onto just before 52nd street SW, east of Deerfoot Trail.
Until the late 1990s, all of Highway 22X within the city of Calgary went by the name "Marquis of Lorne Trail", until the owners of Spruce Meadows successfully lobbied the city to rename the western portion after the internationally known show-jumping facility. It is now known as "Spruce Meadows Trail" or simply, "22X".
[edit] See also
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