Southwest Calgary ring road on time, on budget, minister says

Alberta Transportation Minister Ric McIver says he doesn't anticipate any delays in the completion of Calgary's southwest ring road.

The city says some parts of the ring road have been completed early by taking advantage of lower construction costs.

McIver says the project is keeping that momentum.

"It's on scheduleand, as I understand, it's on budget. So right now, it's scheduled to open in fall 2021. We feel good about that," he said.

"We're spending a lot of time paying attention to it, we think the contractor is doing a great job, and they're certainly working hard and working long hours. So we're as excited as anybody is about the opening of another section of the ring road."

The opening of the $1.4-billion southwest ring road is set for October 2021. That 21-kilometre stretch runs south fromHighway 8, through Tsuut'ina land and linking to Macleod Trail via Highway 22X.

The $1-billion west ring road, the final link, will open the following year. The nine-kilometre section will connect Highway 8 to Stoney Trail near the Trans-Canada Highway.

When it's finished in 2022, Calgary's full ring road will provide just over 100 kilometres of free-flowing traffic around the city.