CANMORE – Nine potential options for a pedestrian overpass or underpass connecting the Palliser area and Teepee Town across the Trans-Canada Highway were unveilled to the public.
While the options shown at the June 21 committee of the whole meeting offer the possibility for a long-discussed crossing over or under the Trans-Canada Highway, there are no immediate plans to move ahead – especially with numerous challenges to first be tackled.
Andy Esarte, the Town’s manager of engineering, said existing communications lines, high-pressure gas lines, the proximity of Mountain Avenue and Palliser Trail to the highway and flood risk are all factors needed to be ironed out before any decisions are made.
Esarte said an underpass would be the likely favoured option because it costs less than an overpass. He said Alberta Transportation also holds options to expand the Trans-Canada Highway to eight lanes – which the overpass would need to be constructed with in mind – despite the expansion being unlikely.
“With an overpass, you have to build to the future so you end up with really long structures, but with an underpass you might be able to extend it in the future and avoid all the upfront costs, anticipating that widening comes well down the road,” he said, adding an overpass would have to be at least nine metres high.
Of the nine options, many are unlikely because of the proximity of Mountain Avenue and Palliser Trail to the highway not giving enough room to have ramp exits and entrances.
The Town is also working with AltaLink on the planned replacement of lines on the Palliser lands, which would have an “enormous impact”.
Esarte highlighted the approved Stoneworks Creek flood mitigation would likely offset the flood risk, but it would still have to deal with local drainage in Teepee Town.
Those are being examined through studies and planning for potential upcoming construction in the Bow Valley Trail and Teepee Town area of Canmore. However, any budgeting wouldn’t come to council until the 2023 budget cycle.
“This will be an important consideration. … It’s expected this project could work with that,” he said.
The two most likely options, Esarte said, are ones connecting Palliser Trail to Mountain Avenue near its connection with 17 Street.
However, with the existing options to cross the highway – such as Cougar Creek underpass and Benchlands – it’s still to be determined if significant time would be saved in having an underpass or overpass.
“By the time you ramp up and over, you’re going a pretty long distance to Benchlands, so is it really that big of an improvement other than psychologically?”
Esarte said there's no cost estimate now, but it could be brought forward in the upcoming budget in the fall.
“We are developing preliminary budget estimates based on those two concepts,” he said.
Coun. Wade Graham added the importance of integrating any work with adding infrastructure to help mitigate wildlife reaching the highway.
Esarte said the municipality has presented the technical information to Alberta Transportation, but have only recently had talks with Alberta Parks.
“It’s not on their radar right now, but I do know that it’s a significant concern,” he said of the wildlife fencing. “It’s something we’ve talked to Y2Y about with this project. We’ll likely come up with the area plans for the Palliser and it’ll be a significant consideration up there. There’s momentum building to the conversation continuing.”
The Town has had numerous plans for potentially building a pedestrian bridge to connect to the Palliser lands.
A pedestrian bridge was part of the 2006 plans, while the Town had previously budgeted $250,000 for the design of a pedestrian crossing to take place in 2024.
Previously, former Mayor John Borrowman brought forward a motion to have the design for the capital project take place in 2020 due to the area having existing development as well as anticipated development eventually taking place on the lands owned by Canmore Community Housing.
However, when the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic bid was defeated in a City of Calgary plebiscite and the COVID-19 pandemic began, possible budget talks for the crossing were pushed back.
At the 2022 Town budget talks, council voted to use money from the paid parking program to hire a planner for the Palliser area structure plan that would see a high-level plan developed for future development in the area. The Town is in the process of hiring the planner and work will begin later this year on the planning.
The design work for a pedestrian bridge is tentatively planned for 2026 in the 2022-26 budget and business plan. It earmarks $450,000 for the potential project, but no funding has been approved.
“I really like how we’re looking at these options before we start the Palliser ASP because I know there’s important synergies between both those projects, so I’m happy we’re doing this work first,” Coun. Joanna McCallum said.
From November 2019 to March 2022, RCMP statistics show three reported hit and runs between Dead Man’s Flats and the Banff National Park gates. It also had 15 reported non-fatal injuries, 45 injuries, 98 single-vehicle collisions and 63 animals being hit along that stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway.
From 2009-18, the Ministry of Transportation has 639 reported collisions, including two involved pedestrians.
The 60-metre underpass at Cougar Creek beneath the Trans-Canada Highway connects that area of Town to Bow Valley Trail. The federal government and the Town contributed funds for the project and it addressed connectivity and public safety after people had been struck crossing the highway.
An underpass was mentioned in the Town’s open space and trails plan that was approved in 2015 and last amended in 2021. The Town eliminated one lane on the Benchlands overpass in 2019 to allow for pedestrian and cycling options over the Trans-Canada Highway.
Though the options outline the possibility of an underpass or overpass, there is still significant work to complete until anything is brought forward for council consideration.
“I’m really happy to hear of the underpass option. I’m glad to hear it has potential options for going forward that may be allowed to expand it and that it’s less expensive,” Mayor Sean Krausert said. “I really like the other underpass and from the visual aspect and use aspect it will be much more functional.”
