How can Yankee Valley Blvd be improved?

With so many new communities on the south side of the city, it’s no wonder that Yankee Boulevard in Airdrie is so crazy busy.

The City of Airdrie recently conducted a study of traffic patterns on Yankee Valley just to determine the impact of more traffic from all the new neighbourhoods on that end of town. 

The first thing evident is that there is no left hand turn option from northbound Sierra Springs Drive which runs through the retail and commercial area west of the QEII and south of Yankee Valley Blvd.   With no left turn at this intersection, more traffic is opting to travel on Main Street which is putting too much pressure on this road – a road not designed to handle a lot of traffic.  ISL Engineering was contracted by the City of Airdrie to look at traffic woes, and spokesperson Stephen Burnell reported that the two north/south routes seem to function satisfactorily in the morning rush hour but afternoons are a different story. Northbound Main Street traffic turning left onto Yankee Valley and even westbound Yankee Valley traffic is way over capacity resulting in long lineups and delays.

Nothing that local residents couldn’t ascertain themselves.

Burnell reported findings to City Council and had four options for Councilors to consider.  Two of his suggestions concerned improvements to Main Street at Yankee Valley.  One was to have dual left turn lanes from northbound Main to westbound Yankee Valley which would involve changing the signal lights and the other to reconfigure the road and constructing an addition turn lane.  The third option Burnell presented was to add another left turn lane at Sierra Springs Drive onto westbound Yankee Valley and the fourth idea was the most expensive – to add more left turn options at both intersections.

The first option would only cost $79,000 and the last would be nearly $350,000.

ISL Engineering recommended that the City of Airdrie go with Option 3, noting that improving the intersection at Sierra Springs would have the greatest benefit, especially in the future when 40 Ave is finished.

The city would have to modify the island in that intersection, move traffic signal poles, add a new signal for the left turn lane and then rehab the pavement and line painting.  The cost would likely be in the $235,000 to $240,000 range.

City councilors say that a left turn lane at that intersection has been something they’ve brought to the Province’s attention for several years.  However, the Province has dug in its heels because it believes any changes to that intersection will have an adverse effect on traffic flow coming off of the Queen Elizabeth II Highway just metres east of the intersection.  With this new traffic study, Airdrie City Council hopes to revisit this issue and open up further discussion with Alberta Transportation.

New traffic technologies used in other urban areas to regulate traffic flow on highway off ramps such as traffic metres, which stagger the number of vehicles merging onto a new roadway might be the answer as the City of Airdrie tries to collaborate with the Province in improving Yankee Valley Boulevard.