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In what opponents of Calgary’s southwest ring road construction are dubbing a major victory, Alberta’s environment minister has ordered a string of wetlands along its route be protected.

And Shannon Phillips also seemed to confirm critics’ contention the road is being overbuilt, with a median they say could contain eight additional lanes to the eight envisaged when the freeway opens.

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“The appeals have made it clear that we need to do a better job in designing and approving roadways, particularly where they have been over-designed and have disproportionate impacts on wetlands,” the minister stated in a decree released Monday.

Phillips criticized the previous Progressive Conservative government for the design plan it signed with the Tsuut’ina in 2013 for a roadway that Calgarians have been anticipating for decades to ease traffic gridlock.

“I am disappointed that the previous government’s inclination to overdesign roadways has resulted in environmental impacts and that this project is now too far along to undo these impacts,” she wrote.