2 Beltline avenues become one-ways as city revamps 17th Avenue

A couple of narrow residential roads in Calgary's Beltline are being converted to one-way traffic this month.

The city is making the change to help deal with the congestion from the on-going reconstruction project on 17th Avenue S.W.

Fourteenth Avenue will be converted to westbound one-way traffic from Macleod Trail to 14th Street S.W. and 15th Avenue will become an eastbound one-way road. 

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Each of the avenues will still allow vehicle parking on both sides .

Jessica Bell with the city's transportation department said both streets will feature only one lane of traffic, down from one lane in each direction today.

"This will help us do things like detour buses in a more convenient way for residents in the Beltline," Bell said. 

'Hard to get the word out'

Detour signs will direct drivers to 14th and 15th avenues so they can avoid the closed blocks on 17th. 

"We don't really want 14th and 15th avenues to become these kind of cut-through, heavy traffic streets like we see would see on 11th or 12th," Bell said. 

"We really just want to accommodate those detours in a way that keeps people closer to their destination."

The local community association has been briefed on the changes. 

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But the president of the Beltline Neighbourhoods Association, Peter Oliver, said it's unlikely everyone has heard what's going to be happening.

"It's pretty hard to get word out about stuff. The city has made efforts and so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people are caught by surprise."

Some parking spots will be lost

Oliver said he expects the two streets are going to be busier than they typically are today. Part of the change will include detouring transit buses, which Oliver said will mean some on-street parking spaces will be lost in the congested area.

The city plans to start switching signs on 14th and 15th avenues later this month after the Victoria Day long weekend. The change-over is expected to take a couple of days to complete. 

The two streets will remain one-ways for the next three or four years, depending on the 17th Avenue reconstruction completion date.