WESTLOCK – The majority of the dilapidated stretch of Highway 44 south from the Highway 18 intersection past the Westlock County Industrial Park to just before Township Road 594 received a fresh asphalt overlay last week as part of “maintenance” work that’s intended to tide the road over until a slew of major upgrades are done by 2026.
Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken, Town of Westlock mayor Ralph Leriger and Westlock County reeve Christine Wiese all welcomed the roughly three kilometres worth of work, with van Dijken characterizing it as, “a maintenance job until the design work is done on the reconstruction phase.” While most of the recent overlay is complete and lines have been painted, as of Monday, Oct. 24, the east lane on Highway 44 from just inside the town boundary to just north of Township Road 594 had not received any new asphalt.
“If you look at it, it’s a pretty-thin layer … I don’t know if you could call it an overlay. How it was explained to us is that this is an end of the year, last money in the budget sort of project and the intent is to start working towards the real fix for this highway,” said Leriger Oct. 20, noting the town’s public works boss was notified of the work. “I was pleasantly surprised and glad that it was done. But when people are straddling the ruts and saying to hell with the lanes, it’s beyond time to do something about it.”
This past June, the provincial government committed to a bevy of work to Highways 18 and 44 within the Town of Westlock, including “major upgrades” to the intersection of the two by 2026 as the 2022 Provincial Construction Program includes repaving/reconstruction for Highway 44 (two kilometres south of Highway 18 and five kilometres north of Highway 18) and Highway 18, east and west of Highway 44 — before the June announcement, town CAO Simone Wiley and Leriger met with then-transportation minister Rajan Sawhney in April.
“I believe that this fix is only due to our pressure. Really, what this is, is to get us through to when it can be fixed properly,” said the mayor.
While Leriger, noting the extra traffic Highway 44 is receiving due to the continued closure of the Morinville overpass on Highway 2 to big rigs, and van Dijken agree that the main project is probably still four years away, both remain hopeful that it will happen sooner. Throughout the spring and early summer, Emcon Services, which is contracted by the province to maintain area highways, patched numerous potholes on Highway 44 and also performed the recent “maintenance” overlay.
“I’m trying to work to see if it can be accelerated and that’s my hope,” said van Dijken, Oct 21.
What about 44 in front of the industrial park?
Wiese said Oct. 20 that it’s her understanding that the design and engineering work to upgrade roughly one kilometre of Highway 44 in front of the county industrial park to include turning lanes and a traffic light, plus a service road on the east side of highway, is done and “ready for construction … (and) set for next year.”
“Myself and council will be speaking with the (Alberta Transportation) minister at the RMA (Rural Municipalities of Alberta) conference in two weeks about the importance of this project for both of our municipalities, as well as other pressing county needs,” said Wiese.
At the Oct. 12, 2021, Westlock County council meeting, the final one before the Oct. 18 municipal election, then-councillors voted 6-0 to sign off on Alberta Transportation’s $900,000-plus plan to upgrade roughly one kilometre of Highway 44 in front of the industrial park to include turning lanes and a traffic light, plus a service road on the east side of highway.
According to the plans provided then, the northern and southern park exits on the west side of the highway would be closed, while the second entrance would remain open and a traffic light would be added. Exit and entrance lanes would also be added, while highway access to the cemetery, as well as many of the east-side exit points, would be shuttered and a service road added from the main entrance.
The estimated project cost at that time was $925,000, with the county chipping in $444,000, roughly 48 per cent, via its general operating reserve.
In the summer of 2018, the province spent $21.5 million repaving 38 kilometres of Highway 44 up to Township Road 594, while work to the stretch in front of the industrial park and throughout the town was shelved — then-county-CAO Leo Ludwig said at the time that design and property acquisition issues for the industrial park stretch were still being worked on.
van Dijken said in a June 15 interview that when it became evident work on Highway 44 was ending before the industrial park back in 2018, “work started on trying to understand why.”
Last fall Coun. Jared Stitsen also noted the issue was one of the first things they dealt with when he was first elected in 2017, but turnover at both the county and Transportation keep pushing it to the bottom of the to-do list.
“To be quite honest the ‘why’ was hinging on the county industrial park and trying to negotiate an agreement with the county on how to properly handle the entrances and the turning lanes and all of that,” van Dijken confirmed in the same June 15 interview. “Last fall we got to the point where Transportation and the county came to an agreement. As soon as we had that I knew that this would eventually go to the next level.”
