Relief will arrive some time this month for St. Albertans traveling in the north end of the city who have noticed, and wondered, about the major overhaul of St. Albert Trail.
Construction improvements are focused on the north section of the Trail encompassing Boudreau Road to north of Neil Ross Road. The end result will be an added travel lane in both the southbound and northbound portions of the road, transforming the Trail from a four-lane to a six-lane divided roadway.
Garry Dang-Vuu, St. Albert’s engineering services senior project manager, said a transportation network improvement study was completed by the city in 2018. The study pinpointed the northern section of the Trail as a priority for improvements to “balance upgrades and help facilitate anticipated additional traffic caused by construction of Fowler Way,” a planned east-west arterial road in the city.
In an email to The Gazette, city spokesperson Juliann Cashen said Fowler Way’s construction had originally been planned for 2025 to 2026.
“However, as per the transportation network study, the progress of Fowler Way may be rescheduled to align with the construction of the widening of the fourth phase of Ray Gibbon Drive in 2028 or 2029,” Cashen said in the email.
Cashen said the final schedule will be subject to the need to service any new development in the northwest via Fowler Way, as well as the progression of next stages of improvements of Ray Gibbon Drive.
Phase two of Ray Gibbon Drive’s construction — encompassing the corridor from north of LeClair Way to north of McKenney Avenue — is in progress, with phase three and four anticipated for delivery from 2025 to 2029.
Construction on St. Albert Trail reached a milestone in September, when the city opened the connection of Coal Mine Road from St. Albert Trail to Ebony Way to traffic, Dang-Vuu said.
Later in October, St. Albert Trail southbound traffic was merged to newly constructed lanes between Jensen Lakes Boulevard and Villeneuve Road.
Most recently last week, milling of the existing northbound pavement lane — a process where the top layer of asphalt is removed to allow new asphalt to be added — was completed.
Improvements at the Coal Mine Road intersection at the commercial entrance and exit on the west side of St. Albert Trail are set to be completed on Nov. 10.
When asked when St. Albert Trail will calm down for traffic, Cashen said road construction will likely end by the middle to end of November, with off-road work — including the multi-use trails, park furniture installation, and landscaping — potentially continuing as long as possible. This later work will be non-disruptive to traffic, Cashen said.
Adaptive signals
Earlier in July, Dean Schick, the city’s transportation manager, said redesigning the intersections for Villeneuve Road and Coal Mine Road will be an important first step toward adding more adaptive signals on St. Albert Trail.
While the previous signals operate based on pre-set time-of-day patterns, adaptive signals detect cars and communicate between intersections to respond to traffic demands.
“The system monitors for a trend in demand, and will adjust the time to reflect that volume and co-ordinate between the intersections to try to improve overall corridor efficiency,” Schick said.
Currently, adaptive timing has been integrated on St. Albert Trail from the south city limit to McKenney Avenue.
Previously, the Villeneuve Road and Coal Mine Road intersection had lights for eastbound and westbound on both sides of the intersection. These lights couldn’t be phased together, a requirement of adaptive signal technology.
The improvements to both intersections will mean a car turning left will have a dedicated turn signal that turns green while all other directions of travel remain red.
“This is the same type of traffic flow as is seen at the Boudreau and St. Albert Trail intersection,” Cashen said in the email.
By allowing only one direction of travel to go at any one time, the intersection will be compatible with the introduction of adaptive signal technology, Cashen said.
Additional work to follow winter thaw
Dang-Vuu said work scheduled for after the winter thaw in 2022 will focus on the new roundabout on Villeneuve Road, plazas, the multi-use trails on both west and east sides of St. Albert trail, park furniture installation, and landscaping.
The anticipated cost of improving the corridor from Boudreau Road to north of Neil Ross Road is about $19 million.
