Ring road blasting on hold while Cougar Ridge residents' concerns addressed
Powerful blasts are shaking some homeowners faith in project
Read the latest on this story: Blasting set to resume on west portion of Calgary ring road
Blasting has been put on hold for the ring road construction in the southwest community of Cougar Ridge as Alberta Transportation investigates concerns raised by some residents.
Kelley Curtin and her family live near a construction site at Paskapoo Slopes, where crews are using explosives to remove bedrock and lower the grade of the road.
"We started to notice cracks on the walls," Curtin told CBC News.
"Minor things where the tape is pulling away from the wall. That's what we can see, and the blasts have just started. The blasts are going to continue for the next year, and they've only been ramping up at the scale of the blasts now."
In a letter to concerned residents, a project manager with Alberta Transportation says all blasts conducted so far are "below the levels required to cause damage."
Blair Phelps, communications director with Alberta Infrastructure said the consultation process will be ongoing.
"We are aware that some residents have concerns about the controlled blasting Alberta Transportation conducted in December as part of the construction work required for the West Calgary Ring Road," Phelps wrote in an email to CBC News.
"We continue investigating those concerns; blasting will not resume until the investigation is completed."
When blasting resumes, Phelps said, the department will continue to monitor contractors and follow up with residents.
Curtin said she's lived through earthquakes in her hometown of Seattle and in California and this feels like no earthquake she's ever experienced.
"And some of the recent blasts have felt worse," she said.
But she said she understands the need for the project.
"We could really use the ring road. I have no problem with it. I only want the promise of no material damage to our homes to be made good on."
Alberta Transportation is holding an open house to hear the concerns of citizens but Curtin is not optimistic.
"If it's going to be like it was last time, I'm not hopeful that we'll get anything valuable out of it," she said.
So what do residents want?
"Give us the information, and tell us what you're going to do to give us confidence in what they're doing," she said. "And should there be any material damage what they're going to do to make this whole when it's all done."
Resident Susan Wishart said she attended the open house early in 2019 and came away frustrated.
"Residents who did not back onto the construction site had no idea of the blasting until they started to feel the vibration quakes," Wishart said.
"Many people were scared and taken aback especially with the large blast that happened before Christmas. When a local school has water bottles falling off desks, I think that is concerning."
The new information open house will be held Saturday at the Markin MacPhail Centre at WinSport.
Corrections
- An earlier version of this story said the blasting was being done to create a tunnel. In fact, it's being done to lower the grade of the road.Jan 13, 2020 4:11 PM MT
With files from Andrew Brown