8th Street link between Inglewood and Ramsay to close Nov. 15

A favourite neighbourhood road connecting Inglewood and Ramsay is closing.

That was the word Friday, when Erin Joslin from the Ramsay Community Association spoke with the Calgary Eyeopener's David Gray about the city's decision to close the link for good on Nov. 15.

Joslin says it will make life just a little bit more complicated for Ramsay residents.

"It removes one of our easy access routes into Inglewood in terms of vehicle traffic — but also pedestrian and bicycle traffic as well," Joslin said.

"We're still working with the city to understand how that is going to look, because there are lots of parents that actually visit daycare on the other side in Inglewood," she said. "Lots of parents walk their children down there. People work in Inglewood, so they'll bike down to work.

"We're losing vehicle connection — we knew that. But the other ones are important as well."

Thanks to a 100-year-long contract CP Rail has with the city, residents were aware that the street was designated for closure where the tracks cross just south of Ninth Avenue S.E. They just didn't know when.

Triggered clause

Joslin said she's not sure why the CP decided to trigger the closure clause now but suspects it may have to with another light rail infrastructure project.

"Part of it will be the Green Line construction because they'll have an additional track. It will [eventually] be three tracks — the Green Line LRT, and then the two speed rail tracks — so it just makes it really difficult for vehicle traffic to get across."

The alternatives to Eighth Street are westbound, over the McDonald Avenue Bridge and then through the Seventh Street underpass, which adds nearly 800 metres to the trip.

Eastbound, Ramsay residents can cross 18th Avenue to 12th Street S.E., which adds a little more than a kilometre to the trip.

Area residents will also face additional complications due to a new, $23-million Ninth Avenue Bridge into Inglewood near that same intersection. Construction will start later this year to replace the 110-year-old bridge that's there now.

Seventh Street S.E. will be closed then, cutting off the western route to Inglewood.

The new Ninth Avenue Bridge is expected to be completed in late 2020.

• Historic bridge between Inglewood and East Village gets weight limits for final days

Joslin's organization spoke with a city representative Tuesday who confirmed the closure.

She doesn't anticipate that there's a chance the city, or CP Rail, will reverse course.

"I'm pretty sure it's always been a done deal," she said.

While the decision to close the road doesn't come as a surprise to the community association, the closure date did.

"Based on the conversations, I'm a little concerned about timing on closing it," Joslin said.

"We've known about it, so the conversations have always been started and there are solutions on the books," she said. "But the concern from the community is [that] the solutions are kind of years out — and we're closing now."

Although a barrier will be placed on Eighth Street S.E. near the tracks, the rest of the road will remain open.

Calgary Eyeopener7:44City set to close popular road in Inglewood

8th Street S.E., a popular southeast route which crosses the city’s CP Rail line, will soon be closed to vehicle traffic at the request of CP. Sean Somers from the City of Calgary’s transportation department talks about the forthcoming closure.

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.