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Calgary's nickname is "Cowtown" in remembrance of its ranching history. "Cartown" would more accurately reflect the present reality.
Because it is one of Canada's largest cities in terms of square mileage, Calgarians regard a car -- or several -- as essential to life.
Trouble is, just as the city's population started to explode in the 1990s, roadbuilding ground to a halt.
Finally, the city is playing catch-up and construction is going full speed ahead.
Mayor Al Duerr correctly warned things would get worse before they got better.
Indeed, radio traffic reporters could have prerecorded their commuter advisories and taken the summer off.
Day after day, the story was the same. Construction of the Anderson Road/Macleod Trail intersection in south Calgary had motorists stuck in place for half a dozen traffic light changes.
Construction of a new intersection at Shaganappi and Crowchild Trails created the same situation in the north.
On the east side, construction of a new intersection at Barlow Trail and Deerfoot Trail turned both thoroughfares into parking lots.
On the city's outskirts, construction on Highway 22X, a feeder to Deerfoot now handling five times the vehicles it was built to carry daily, had traffic backed up for kilometres.
The chaos is all part of a $1.2-billion spending program Calgary embarked on last fall to improve mobility on city roads over the next seven years.
The bulk of the money -- about $765 million -- is coming from a provincial government suddenly flush with oil revenues.
Even when the current building program is completed, Calgary, in all probability, will be no better off than before because the population is growing so rapidly.
Last year, 63 newcomers moved
Last year, 63 newcomers moved to Calgary every day, bringing with them 44 more vehicles.
Facing ever increasing gridlock, transportation officials are trying everything from public-private partnerships to new schemes to move people around so they won't need to climb into their cars.
Vancouverites and Torontonians scoff that Calgarians complaining about traffic jams are making a Rocky Mountain out of a very little molehill.
But Calgarians were accustomed, until recently, to going from any one point in the city to another in half an hour.
They're enraged when the slightest mishap turns...