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A decades-old dream of a full freeway for Terwillegar Drive fizzled Tuesday as city council members voted to take a more pragmatic path.

Terwillegar-area residents said they wanted all access roads preserved in any new plan. But that meant an extremely complex freeway design, with bridges on top of bridges reaching as high as the houses overlooking the road, said city officials.

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It would have cost $1.2 billion, with construction over 20 to 30 years.

Instead, council’s urban planning committee endorsed a new expressway design. It would be up to eight lanes — four in each direction — but still have traffic signals on the main lanes.

The speed limit will be 70 km/h and the biggest upgrades could be built for roughly $100 million within four years. It will have space for bus rapid transit lanes and stations and would use smart traffic signals to co-ordinate flow.

The plan includes a shared-use path and a new bridge for people walking and biking parallel to Terwillegar Drive to get over Whitemud Drive.

Coun. Sarah Hamilton worried Terwillegar-area residents have an emotional attachment to the idea of a freeway but, by 2050, both options are predicted to be at capacity anyway. “It would be prudent to continue with the expressway.”