Improving highways, creating jobs in central Alberta

May 11, 2020 - 5 years ago

Government is getting nearly 500 Albertans back to work by funding maintenance to highways, bridges, pothole repairs and other safety measures throughout the Central Region of the province.

These projects are part of the $2 billion that government announced on April 9 in response to the COVID-19 recession.

“Every region of the province has felt the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis and the collapse of energy prices. We are doing everything we can to get Albertans back to work, and these projects will create good jobs for central Albertans while improving driving conditions and ensuring our important transportation corridors are ready to support the region’s businesses and job creators, once the economy recovers.”

Ric McIver, Minister of Transportation

Dozens of shovel-ready projects will begin in the Central Region over the next few months, including:

Highway 855 rehabilitation south of Stettler.
Highway 9 paving west of Youngstown.
Rehabilitation of various highways in Special Areas.
LED lighting retrofit in central region.

In addition, $60 million is available provincewide to repair potholes and complete critical safety measures.

These projects will bring hundreds of jobs to central Alberta, while improving driving conditions, safety, and extending the lifespan of existing highways and bridges.

Quick facts

Alberta has a vast provincial highway network that includes more than 31,400 kilometres of highways (equivalent to nearly 64,000 lane kilometres), of which:

almost 28,000 kilometres are paved roads
almost 2,500 kilometres are four- and six-lane divided highways

The provincial highway network includes almost 4,600 bridge structures, including bridges, overpasses and large-size culverts.
Alberta Transportation paves about 900 kilometres of highway every year and rehabilitates or replaces about 50 bridges.

Source:alberta.news.gov.ab.ca