Calgary
Calgary’s Hidden Valley School’s ‘Hug ‘n Go’ campaign promotes traffic safety
This story recently sent to us from a Calgary reader caught our eye. An effective and ‘low-tech’ way to promote driving safety near the school.
by Sarah Parchewsky – Calgary
Like many schools in Calgary, Hidden Valley School in the NW struggles with traffic congestion in and around its school zone. The day-to-day challenges of time management and six months of cold winter weather make too many parents choose to drive their kids to and from school rather than use an active form of travel like walking or biking.
After years of struggling with parents parking in undesignated parking spots, the Hidden Valley School Council decided it was time to try and change this behavior. The council applied for and was awarded a Traffic Safety Fund grant from the Ministry of Transportation to promote traffic safety, education and awareness to the students, their families and staff members at the school.
Each student at the school was given a pedestrian safety reflector to wear on either their jackets or backpacks so that motorists driving in the community could identify these tiny pedestrians from a distance. To keep traffic moving smoothly and alleviate congestion, the school purchased “Hug N’ Go” banner flags to mark the road in front of the school’s entrance.
The school council co-ordinated parent volunteers and teaching staff to host monthly traffic safety blitz’s in collaboration with the Calgary Police Service’s Traffic Safety Unit. The goal was to coach parents about safe driving and good parking practises in and around the school. Parents seen parking in less congested areas or using active forms of travel instead of driving were rewarded with thank-you cards.
The school continued to promote traffic safety to students and their families with street safe activity booklets and safe cycling checklists. In May 2019, the school hosted a walk/bike week event to encourage students to use an active form of travel either to and from school or in the evenings with their families (for students who travel by bus). To end the school year, the school hosted a traffic safety assembly where students practised how to use a crosswalk safely using the three P’s (Point, Pause, Proceed). The winners of the walk/bike week event were announced by the School’s CPS Liaison Officer, Ward 3 Councillor Jyoti Gondek and AB Transportation.
The school handed out a total of 4 bicycles, 5 scooters and over 30 helmets.
“Hats off to our School Council and the staff at Hidden Valley School who have worked really hard on this traffic safety initiative this year!” stated the School Council’s Traffic Safety Coordinator. “However, we continue to struggle with traffic safety within the community. Not only are their infrastructure issues such as unlighted crosswalks but all drivers in the community need to start thinking about changing their driving behaviours in order to make a real difference.”
Alberta
Calgary Ring Road opens 10 months early
Christmas comes early for Calgary drivers
The Calgary Ring Road is now ready to be opened to public traffic, several months ahead of schedule.
Calgary’s ring road is one of the largest infrastructure undertakings in Calgary’s history and includes 197 new bridges and 48 interchanges. The 101-kilometre free-flowing Calgary Ring Road will open to traffic Dec. 19, completing a project decades in the making.
“Calgary’s ring road is a project that has been decades in the making and its completion is a real cause for celebration. This has been an important project and our government got it done. With this final section completed, travelling just got a little easier for families and for workers. This will not only benefit Calgarians and residents in the metro region, it will provide a boost to our economy, as goods can be transported more easily across our province.”
Although construction of the entire ring road project began in 1999 under former premier Ralph Klein, discussions on a ring road around the City of Calgary began as early as the 1950s. In the late 1970s, under former premier Peter Lougheed, high-level planning and land acquisition started and a transportation utility corridor was established to make the Calgary Ring Road a reality.
“The final section of the Calgary Ring Road is now complete, and I’d like to acknowledge the work done by former premiers and transportation ministers and their vision to build Alberta. I’m proud to announce that the final section was completed on budget and months ahead of schedule.”
“I’m thrilled to see the Calgary Ring Road project completed. It was something I have helped shepherd through the process since 2014. Finally, all the hard work put in by everyone has become a reality. The Calgary Ring Road will provide travellers with over 100 kilometres of free-flow travel, create new travel options for the City of Calgary and surrounding area and provide improved market access across the region.”
Opening the ring road means new travel options for Calgarians, which will draw traffic away from heavily travelled and congested roads such as the Deerfoot Trail, 16th Avenue, Glenmore Trail and Sarcee Trail. For commercial carriers, the ring road provides an efficient bypass route, saving time and money for the delivery and shipment of goods and services.
“The ring road investment generated thousands of local jobs and will now play an integral role in keeping Calgarians and the economy moving. This important transportation link will ease congestion on city routes and greatly improve connectivity and access for businesses transporting goods.”
The ring road is a critical component to growing economic corridors in Alberta and Western Canada, as it connects the Trans-Canada Highway to the east and west, and the Queen Elizabeth II Highway and Highway 2 to the north and south. It is also part of the CANAMEX corridor, which connects Alberta to the highway network in the United States and Mexico.
The completion of the ring road is a major boost for Calgary, opening new business opportunities and supporting key components of the Calgary economy. It sends a signal to businesses and investors that Calgary has a strong highway infrastructure, providing economic corridor connections through the entire region.
“With one of the smoothest commutes in Canada and the capacity to reach 16 million customers by road within a single day, Calgary offers unmatched quality of life and economic opportunities. The triumphant completion of the Calgary Ring Road further improves our capacity to attract even more companies, capital and talent to our city.”
“This is an exciting step forward for the Calgary Metropolitan Region. This key artery will not only improve the quality of life for the residents of the region, it is also a key economic enabler and we are thrilled to see its completion.”
Quick facts
- Stretched into a single lane, the highway is 1,304 kilometres long, the distance from Calgary to Winnipeg.
- Other sections opened in 2009, 2013, 2020 and 2023.
- The West Calgary Ring Road is the final piece of the ring road project.
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