Alberta Highway 8
Alberta Provincial Highway No. 8, commonly referred to as Highway 8, is a highway in Southern Alberta that connects Highway 22 in Rocky View County just north of Redwood Meadows to Deerfoot Trail in Calgary. In Rocky View County, the highway initially parallels the Elbow River before entering Calgary where it becomes a heavily travelled expressway known as Glenmore Trail, named after the reservoir which it crosses. Glenmore Trail is a busy freeway between Richard Street in southwest Calgary to Ogden Road in the southeast, carrying nearly 160,000 vehicles per weekday at its busiest point placing it second only to Deerfoot Trail as the busiest road in Western Canada. East of Deerfoot Trail, Glenmore Trail continues east providing a key link to Stoney Trail, after which traffic levels decrease and it becomes Highway 560 en route to Langdon.
Route description
Rocky View County
Highway 8 begins west of Calgary in a rural area of Rocky View County. Its terminus is a roundabout with Highway 22 in the Elbow River valley after which it proceeds east, paralleling the Elbow River through agricultural lands as a two-lane rural highway with a posted speed limit of. In Rocky View County the highway is alternately designated as Township Road 241, and after it crosses Range Road 32 the speed limit reduces to as the highway bisects a suburban residential area. After a signalized intersection at Clearwater Drive / Lott Creek Boulevard, the highway then descends into the Elbow River valley before veering slightly north to crosses the river, entering Calgary city limits almost immediately thereafter at 101 Street SW.Glenmore Trail
In Calgary, Highway 8 is designated as Glenmore Trail and retains this designation, at a speed limit of 80 km/h, until Deerfoot Trail. It first passes between the communities of Discovery Ridge and Springbank Hill. South of Signal Hill it meets Sarcee Trail and becomes a major divided arterial road, doubling to two lanes of traffic each way. In 2010, an interchange with two roundabouts opened at Glenmore's intersection with 37 Street SW. The bridge was built to potentially be reused, depending on Alberta's firm plans for construction of the southwest portion of the Stoney Trail ring road. East of 37 Street traffic levels continue to increase and Glenmore Trail curves back to the south as a freeway toward its major interchange with Crowchild Trail. Traffic levels double to nearly 160,000 vehicles per day, and Glenmore Trail carries four lanes of traffic each way toward the Glenmore Reservoir.The causeway carrying Glenmore Trail over the reservoir was extensively upgraded beginning in 2005, as part of a $57 million project that was completed in 2008. Prior to the improvements, seven lanes crossed the reservoir. The improvements saw construction of a new bridge carrying two lanes from northbound 14 Street SW to westbound Glenmore Trail, and reconstruction of the existing bridge carrying westbound Glenmore Trail. Construction was staggered and planned to minimize disruption to existing traffic. Nine total lanes now cross the reservoir.
East of the reservoir, the freeway passes under the major north-south arterial of 14 Street SW. It then descends into a trough constructed beneath Elbow Drive and 5 Street SW; a single interchange complex links the two north-south routes with braided ramps to Glenmore Trail and the existing single-point urban interchange at Macleod Trail just south of Chinook Centre. Construction of the $170 million complex began in 2005 and was a massive undertaking, the largest road project in the history of Calgary. It included lowering Glenmore Trail beneath the existing terrain by excavating of earth, and the extensive use of mechanically stabilized earth walls to maintain the trough. The retaining walls are adorned with 144 coloured concrete trout which serve as aesthetic design elements.
East of Macleod Trail, Glenmore continues as a six lane freeway across the south leg of CTrain route 201 into primarily commercial developments of southeast Calgary, where it meets Blackfoot Trail in a partial cloverleaf interchange, and continues to the terminus of the Highway 8 designation at Deerfoot Trail. The interchange at Deerfoot Trail is often congested, particularly for traffic travelling north-south on Deerfoot as the road squeezes to two lanes from three in each direction.
East of Deerfoot, the freeway curves to the southeast and traffic levels decrease by approximately one half, to less than 70,000 vehicles per weekday in 2015. Glenmore Trail passes to the north of Calgary Auto Mall before crossing the Bow River on the Graves Bridge, which was twinned in 2009 and now carries three lanes westbound and four lanes eastbound on two separate structures. East of the river, Glenmore Trail passes between the residential areas of Ogden and Riverbend before a partial cloverleaf interchange at 18 Street SE. The freeway ends shortly after at Ogden Road, and the four lane expressway continues east through commercial and light industrial development across at-grade intersections with Barlow Trail and 52 Street SE, before its east terminus at a partial cloverleaf interchange at Stoney Trail. Beyond Stoney Trail, Glenmore becomes Highway 560 and continues to Langdon at 80 km/h as a rural two-lane highway.
in Calgary
History
In the late 1800s, Calgary was a small town at the confluence of the Elbow and Bow Rivers. A lightly travelled road led away from the town to the southwest, following the alignment of present-day Richmond Road. In the early 20th century it was called South Morley Road before being renamed to Richmond Road, and eventually led west to Springbank, Alberta remaining north of the Elbow River. A spur from the road at 101 Street SW proceeding due south across the river had been constructed by the mid‑1920s. South of the river, it veered west following the present day alignment of Highway 8 to its current terminus, where it turned south to Bragg Creek on the alignment of present-day Highway 22.In 1933, construction of a dam across the Elbow River was completed in south Calgary. The reservoir it created was named Glenmore, a name given to the area by 19th century explorer Sam Livingston. The first segment of Glenmore Trail was built in the 1960s and stretched from Sarcee Trail to Blackfoot Trail. It was then extended across the Bow River on the Graves Bridge to the eastern city limit by the 1970s. Interchanges at Macleod and Blackfoot Trails had also been constructed, and others at Crowchild Trail and 14 Street SW by the mid 1980s. By 1993, Glenmore Trail had been extended from Sarcee Trail west to 69 Street.
Future
Construction is underway by the province of Alberta to significantly upgrade Glenmore Trail from 101 Street SW to 37 Street SW as part of the southwest Stoney Trail project, after which Glenmore will be re-designated as Stoney Trail from Sarcee Trail to 101 Street. A large cloverstack interchange will be constructed at Sarcee Trail, extending Sarcee south to Highway 22X as Tsuu'tina Trail. Glenmore will be widened to 10 lanes from Sarcee past a pair of new interchanges at Westhills Way and 69 Street, eventually narrowing to four lanes before reaching the city limit at 101 Street. The current temporary bridge carrying 37 Street over Glenmore Trail will be dismantled, and a new diamond interchange will be built eliminating the current roundabouts.along Glenmore Trail
In 2015, work began on a $125 million project to construct a diamond interchange at Glenmore Trail and Ogden Road SE. It is scheduled to open in late 2017. In 2016, Calgary began developing plans for the widening of Glenmore Trail from four to six lanes between 37 Street SW and Crowchild Trail. In 2015, this busy section carried nearly 80,000 vehicles each weekday. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2018.
In 2008, Alberta completed a functional planning study to determine the best course of action for upgrades to the incomplete interchange of Glenmore Trail and Deerfoot Trail. The interchange carries 130,000 vehicles per day on Deerfoot Trail and 100,000 vehicles on Glenmore making it one of the busiest interchanges in Alberta, but there is no direct access for traffic turning from northbound Deerfoot to westbound Glenmore. Traffic must first exit to the east, proceed through a traffic light behind Calgary Auto Mall, and enter Glenmore Trail from the north side. Stage 1 of the proposed improvements would not remedy this problem, but rather correct a pinch point on Deerfoot Trail by constructing a new three lane bridge to carry the northbound lanes over Glenmore. Ultimately, a large cloverstack interchange is planned with north-west and east-north flyovers to provide free-flowing access to and from Deerfoot Trail, but it will require acquisition of land from adjacent properties. The plans also call for widening of Glenmore Trail to as many as 10 lanes between Blackfoot and Deerfoot, modifications of the interchange at Blackfoot Trail, and braided ramps.