Alberta spends $1.9B on roads, highway upgrades in 2024 Achi-News

The Alberta government will provide $1.9 billion towards the planning and implementation of road and highway upgrades and expansions across the province in 2024.

Minister Devin Dreeshen said it’s part of the ministry’s three-year, $8.1-billion capital plan, and he hopes it will instill confidence in Alberta’s construction industry.

“There’s a lot of work that’s going to be done here in the province, so it allows construction companies here in Alberta to know that they can staff and they can buy equipment to know that they can bid on these projects,” Dreeshen said at a news conference Friday at Graham Construction in Edmonton.

Terwillegar Drive initially overlaps with widening at Anthony Henday Drive

The company is working on the upgrade to Terwillegar Drive in southwest Edmonton, which has been ongoing since 2021.

The central section of the expressway widening is mostly complete, and the northern section at Whitemud Drive is underway.

The 2024 provincial budget has put another $124 million towards Terwillegar work over the next three years, where the majority of the new work will focus on the interchange with Anthony Henday Drive.

“It crosses what is arguably the busiest trade corridor in Alberta, so this interchange really needed improvements,” said Tim Cartmell, city councilor for the area.

He has been championing the project from the start and said finishing the job would benefit the roughly 65,000 people who live in that part of southwest Edmonton.

“Hopefully sometime between now and early 2026, maybe even late 2025, we’re going to see the Terwillegar Drive project extended all the way to Windermere Boulevard,” Cartmell said.

Other projects being built this year

The budget includes $97 million to continue adding climbing and passing lanes to Highway 881 in northeastern Alberta.

The route is a heavy-duty corridor between Lac La Biche County and the hamlet of Anzac, Alta., with many oil and gas operations along the winding, one-lane highway. This is the only other route to get to Fort McMurray other than Highway 63.

Work to improve the road began in 2020. Until 2006, Highway 881 was a two-lane gravel road with narrow shoulders. Some sections still have narrow shoulders that become crowded with many heavy and oversized loads.

The Edmonton ring road interchange and Highway 881 upgrade are among the major projects receiving funding this year. Others include:

• Twinning of Highway 3 from Taber to Burdett in southeastern Alberta
• Twinning of Highway 11 from Sylvan Lake to Rocky Mountain House in west central Alberta
• Highway 22/1A interchange at Cochrane near Calgary
• Twinning of Highway 40, south of Grande Prairie in northwestern Alberta
• Highway 201 Bow River Bridge on southeast Stoney Trail in Calgary
• Deerfoot Trail Upgrade in Calgary

Planning funding for future projects

This year’s budget also includes $151.2 million over three years for 56 engineering projects, with $100 million in new funding over three years for 36 engineering projects to address future infrastructure needs such as:

• Capital improvements to Highway 60 to add an overpass at the major CN Rail crossing at Acheson in Parkland County
• Widening of the grade 40 highway between Hinton and Grande Cache in western Alberta
• New intersection/alignment on Highway 16A and Range Road 20 in Parkland County, where area residents have pushed for changes after several fatal collisions
• Highway 2 replacement of the Balzac interchange
• Twinning of Highway 63, north of Fort McMurray
• Vinca Bridge replacement

Once the engineering is complete, Dreeshen said the province will be able to put more of those projects into the capital plan.

In the previous budget, the Highway 60 rail overpass and Range Road 20 intersection change in Parkland County were announced.

The Vinca Bridge across the North Saskatchewan River near Fort Saskatchewan is the province’s preferred river crossing for oversized or overweight loads bound for northern Alberta.

However, the current bridge was built in 1967 and cannot handle large and heavy loads.

The province said the bridge needs to be replaced anyway, and upgrading it to a higher capacity at the same time will save more than 200 km of travel for heavily loaded trucks.

Currently, large shipments are traveling further east to cross the Brosseau Bridge on Highway 36 in Two Hills County.

“This project is critical to many of the large hydrogen and carbon capture projects coming online in the Edmonton region,” said Mustafa Sahin, executive vice president of Edmonton Global.

Currently, about 1,500 vehicles cross the Highway 38 bridge each day and about 24 percent of that traffic is large trucks, the province said.

“The new bridge will save time and money for those traveling in the area, and support heavy loads from the Edmonton region to major industrial regions and to the north,” said Sahin.

The minister said that the mild winter had helped some projects to stay on time and within budget, as there had been less need for things like heating concrete when pouring.

& copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.