Friends, Neighbors, Councillors, Journalists,

I hope by now you have heard that on April 20 th, residents of the city of Calgary had
the opportunity to have their views heard by the Transit & Transportation Committee
regarding the SW BRT. It was a long and eventful day. The record-setting meeting
in Council Chambers lasted 13+ hours and over 50 residents waited all day to have
their views heard.
As a result of their efforts, council members voted to have the Transit &
Transportation Committee respond to the 60 questions brought forth by the public
at the upcoming T&T meeting on July 20th, 2016. Members of the public will again
have the opportunity to express their views at this meeting followed by another
vote from city council to determine if the SW BRT will go ahead or finally be forced
to consider other routing options.
In an attempt to consolidate some of the information shared at the meeting on April
20th, I have highlighted 5 key issues regarding how the proposed SW BRT will affect
our community. Directly from that council meeting, see the individuals who
presented on these issues, as well as links to referenced material.
Channelling the Netflix vibe, I have broken down these key issues into 5 easily
digestible episodes. (Genre: suspense/horror) (length: about 3 min to read, 5min for
each speaker) that will be submitted in weekly installments heading up to the allimportant July20thT&T meeting.
Presenting:

Consider the Impacts of the SW BRT

Episode 1: Access to Rockyview Hospital
(rated: R, everyone is welcome but access will be restricted)
The two proposed SW BRT bus-only lanes running for 3 km on the west side of 14 th
St will have a significant adverse effect on traffic throughout the 14 th ST corridor but
most severely at Rockyview Hospital. As outlined in the Stantec 2015/16 Functional
Planning Study (Figure ES.12), here is a look at the changes to the only access
point to Rockyview Hospital :

Increased 14th ST southbound congestion: the proposed SW BRT will be

remove the southbound 14 th ST egress lane turning into Rockyview
Hospital. Losing this egress lanes will result in a loss of free-flow vehicle
access entering the hospital from the north. All vehicles will wait at the 75th
Ave intersection and lose even the ability to make a right-hand turn on a red
light.

Increased congestion exiting the hospital: the prosed SW BRT will

remove the southbound egress lane exiting Rocky View Hospital. Losing this
egress lane will result in a loss of free-flow vehicle access exiting the
hospital and turning south onto 14th ST. Here again, all vehicles will wait at

the 75th Ave intersection and lose even the ability to make a right-hand turn
on a red light

Especially at shift change times (7:15 am, 3:15 pm and 11:15 pm) the loss
of these egress lanes increases the likelihood of backing up traffic to
Glenmore Causeway and backing up traffic up the hill to the front of
Rockyview Hospital.

Increased 14th ST northbound congestion: The proposed SW BRT will

reduce the length of the 14th St northbound left-hand turn lane into
Rockyview Hospital from 90m (currently) to 45m (proposed). This reduction
will increases northbound congestion as vehicles will have to wait to enter the
turn lane. This turn lane will also be reduced to 3.3m in width.

Buses will cross this intersection diagonally: According to the Stantec

2015/16 Functional Planning Study (Figure ES.12), the proposed SW BRT
buses will have priority access at the 14th Street / 75 Avenue intersection.
Northbound buses (running counterflow down the west side of 14th for 3km
from Southland Dr) will cross this intersection diagonally, crossing existing
southbound vehicle lanes to eventually access a shoulder operation bus
lane on the north side of the Glenmore Trail causeway.

Buses are projected to run every 5 minutes in both directions- during peak
hours, resulting in buses crossing 14th St intersections every 100 seconds. It
is currently undetermined if Emergency Vehicles will use bus or vehicle traffic
lanes.

See Speakers on this subject:

http://agendaminutes.calgary.ca/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?
meetid=2085&doctype=MINUTES

Video is on the right side of the feed, scroll to advance to recommended speakers
timestamp.
11:00:15 Janice Biblow
11:05:40 Alan Hallman
10:09:00 Dr John Gillespie, former Chief of Staff at Rockyview
Material Referenced:
2015/16 Functional Planning Study (executive summary) select PDF link from:
http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation/TI/Pages/Transit-projects/SouthwestTransitway.aspx?redirect=/swtransitway
What you can do:
Please attend the Transit & Transportation committee meeting regarding
the SW BRT on July 20th, 9:30am at Historic City Hall. Members of the public are
granted 5 minutes to speak about how the SW BRT will affect them and their
communities. Have your voice heard by decision makers before they vote the on
the fate of SW BRT. Ensure that councillors know the impact this project will have
on YOU.
Please e-mail all city councillors and let them know how you feel about
this project.
Thanks to all,
Lesley Farrar
mikenles@shaw.ca