Chestermere politicians are advocating for Calgary to expedite the widening of 17th Avenue S.E. east of Stoney Trail, citing urgent need to alleviate traffic congestion between the two municipalities. In a meeting Tuesday, Chestermere city council unanimously supported a motion directing Mayor Shannon Dean to write a letter to Calgary's mayor and council, outlining the urgent need for upgrades to the intersection at Range Road 284 and Chestermere Boulevard/17th Avenue S.E., and for the thoroughfare linking the two cities to be twinned.
Dean noted that worsening congestion along the east-west thoroughfare has been an ongoing conversation between the two municipalities, which share a border at Range Road 284. He emphasized that like Calgary, Chestermere's population has exploded in recent years, with most growth concentrated west of the lake near Chestermere Boulevard. 'As we continue to grow, people are utilizing that road more and more to get to and from Calgary, whether it's for work, for pleasure, or for shopping,' Dean said. 'That road gets heavily used, so what we're doing is continuing the conversation with the City of Calgary to have that portion twinned, sooner rather than later.'
Currently, the road is a two-lane highway between the cities, with one lane in each direction. Both municipalities support widening it to two lanes in each direction. Dean highlighted the risks of a single-lane road: 'Right now, with a single lane, if there's any sort of incident — a car accident, if we have weather conditions, if we have a car break down — it can certainly clog up that road pretty quickly. Just the volume that we're seeing on there, we need to address that.'
While Chestermere plans to twin its section of the corridor — east of Range Road 284 — this construction season, Calgary has not committed to the same timeline. Dean acknowledged that widening only Chestermere's portion would not provide the same benefit unless Calgary does its part. 'We'd like to have Calgary start on their portion sooner,' he said. 'For me, we have to do what we can do to work on that project. I answer to the residents of Chestermere and this is a high-demand project from the residents of Chestermere.'
A statement from a City of Calgary spokesperson noted that both municipalities have shared conceptual design information and alignments to ensure the widening is consistent across the municipal boundary. Calgary's growth along the corridor has centered around Belvedere, just east of Stoney Trail. Ground broke earlier this week on Bellwether, which will add additional housing on the south side of 17th Avenue S.E., directly west of 100th Street S.E. The city spokesperson confirmed Calgary plans to widen 17th Avenue from 84th Street S.E. to Range Road 284 but did not specify when, adding that the project is necessary to service new communities along the corridor that are part of the Belvedere Area Structure Plan.
