Stoney Trail Southeast

operational

Opportunity The Transportation Utility Corridor, commonly referred to as the Calgary Ring Road, was originally planned by the Province of Alberta in the 1970s. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the province purchased most of the land required. Once completed, Calgary’s ring road is forecasted to accommodate 50 years of traffic growth. Building on the success of the P3 model used to build Stoney Trail Northeast on-budget and two years earlier than would have been possible with traditional procurement, the provincial government moved forward with plans to build the southeast portion of the ring road using a P3 in 2009. The project was the second largest highway project in Alberta’s history in terms of scope and received $100 million in funding from the federal government. Innovations The contractor was able to generate large economies of scale given the size of the project including securing large volume, long-term contracts for construction materials at a significantly discounted rate. A fixed-price P3 contract ensured that taxpayers did not have to pay for price increases resulting from inflation and weather-related delays during construction and maintenance of the road for the entire 30-year contract. Results Stoney Trail SE is a six-lane freeway running from 17 Avenue SE to just east of MacLoad Trail, a distance of 25 kilometres, with nine interchanges, 27 bridges, one road flyover, and two rail flyovers. The project was delivered an estimated two years sooner than it would have been with traditional procurement. The high speed freeway will improve safety, connections to key provincial highways and access to city roads—supporting the efficient, safe flow of people and goods. When Stoney Trail SE opened to traffic nearly 2.5 million man-hours by all construction and office workers had gone into the project since its inception. “Our government is proud to invest in infrastructure projects that create local jobs, promote economic growth and contribute to a better quality of life for Alberta families.  This investment demonstrates the Government of Canada’s commitment to working with our provincial partners and the private sector to improve transportation infrastructure in the region and across Alberta.” - Lisa Raitt, former Minister of Transport

High