WESTLOCK COUNTY – Upgrades to Highway 44 south of Westlock are a letdown, according to Westlock County council.
Collin Steffes, General Manager, Planning and Community Services Administration, gave council a verbal update on the highway project during a Committee of the Whole meeting on Oct. 8.
“It’s disappointing for the residents as well as our municipality knowing it was an improvement greatly needed,” said Reeve Christine Wiese. “We put the money towards it. We put the initiative towards it and then handed it to the province to execute it and it’s terrible.”
Coun. Stuart Fox-Robinson agreed.
“It’s absolutely disgusting the condition of that work. It should never have been allowed to happen in the first place and actually be left like that."
Westlock County is contributing approximately $700,000 in municipal funding towards the intersection improvement part of Alberta Transportation’s Highway 44 upgrade project.
Chief Administrative Officer Tony Kulbisky said that the county has a considerable hold back for the project and when the invoice arrives they could say they aren’t prepared to process the invoice until council is satisfied with the final product.
But Wiese said she doesn’t like the idea of withholding funds citing the importance of having a good relationship with the province and contractors.
Instead, she said the county needs to voice their dissatisfaction to the province with the road work.
“We are elected on behalf of our residents and they are not happy with it and we are not happy with it. Voice that to them.”
Coun. Sherri Provencal said the county needs to keep voicing their displeasure.
“I don’t have to be an engineer to know that that road is terrible,” she said, adding that at the intersection of Highway 18, her car bottoms out.
In addition, Provencal said that once winter arrives and there’s snow and ice on Highway 44, the uneven patch work may cause collisions.
Kulbisky said the problem with the work on Highway 44 is the province’s problem, not the county’s. He suggested that the county unite with the Town of Westlock and Village of Clyde when expressing their dissatisfaction to Alberta Transportation.
Steffes said Alberta Transportation plans to do testing on Highway 44 in the next couple of weeks and he is optimistic they will see the work needs to be redone.
Fox-Robinson agreed.
“I believe when they do the testing they will be redoing the entire surface, and if they don’t, our residents can feel free to contact our elected officials at the provincial level.”
Council accepted the verbal report as information.
