Another twinned section of Highway 63 has opened up between Grassland and Fort McMurray.
The 16-kilometre stretch north of Mariana Lake officially opened Oct. 19, a year ahead of schedule. The newly-twinned section runs from kilometre marker 129 to 145.
“We are pleased to see a high priority placed on the twinning of Highway 63 by our provincial government,” commented Athabasca County reeve Doris Splane.
The project began over eight years ago, but ramped up in 2013.
Splane said the primary concern for the county has always been the safety of the travelling public — Highway 63 has been dubbed the “Highway of Death” for the hundreds of injuries and fatal collisions since 2003.
“We know that every dollar invested will help save lives,” she said. “Twinned highways inherently have fewer incidents. But with winter on the way, we encourage all drivers to drive to road conditions to help ensure everyone reaches their destination safely.”
That same attitude was echoed by officials in the provincial government.
“The Highway 63 project is critical to the safety of motorists and to Alberta’s economy,” said Alberta Minister of Transportation Brian Mason said in a statement. “Our contractors have been working hard to complete this project that is so important to Fort McMurray.”
Meanwhile in Boyle, the village is still waiting on their portion of highway to get expanded, but it won’t be as they expected.
The original proposal, before the new government took over the Legislature in May, had planned for the road north of Highway 63 between Millar Western sawmill and the Highway 63/831 intersection, to be abandoned so that the village could use it as a service road.
However, the plan changed and now the highway expansion would severe the abandoned road, making it unusable and Millar Western would have to instead use the road along elevator road and the Seed Cleaning Co-op.
But because that stretch is a dirt road, there are questions as to who will be paying to upgrade it.
Village administration also has issues regarding a future overpass. A road underneath the overpass would connect Boyle to developments north of Highway 63, but traffic would have to travel on Millar Western property in order to get through.
“Bottom line, the village has made our wants and needs known to (Alberta) Transportation,” said Boyle chief administrative officer Charlie Ashbey.
“The final design will be done with engineers, so we won’t get everything we want. The final result might not be ideal, but it’s all workable. We’re not disappointed.”
There’s no word from Alberta Transportation when a final design will be in place, but the ministry has already said it won’t be in the budget for at least three years.
“Alberta Transportation has been working closely with the Village of Boyle to determine the most appropriate options for long-term improvements, including twinning, along the existing Highway 63 alignment,” reported ministry spokesperson Carrie Sancartier.
As for the rest of Highway 63, the twinning project is 99 per cent complete, with 53 kilometres opening up in September and another 185 kilometres this year.
The remaining three kilometres of twinning are expected to be finished and ready to go in 2016.
