Province to spend $ 80M twinning Highway 19

The Alberta government will spend $ 80 million to twin two sections of Highway 19, the busy and sometimes dangerous 12- kilometre roadway linking Devon and Nisku.

Premier Jim Prentice, who announced the funding Wednesday, said he has heard about Highway 19 “every single time” he’s visited the area.

“This investment of $ 80 million is the first step in what will eventually be a $ 200- million project,” Prentice told a news conference.

Transportation Minister Wayne Drysdale said the work will go to tender later this year so construction can start in the spring of 2016. The project will be completed by 2019 at the latest, Drysdale said.

It will include a new access lane on the QE2 southbound — from the 41st Avenue S. W. interchange to Highway 19 — to ease morning traffic congestion that sometimes sees Nisku- bound vehicles backed up along the QE2.

The project will also improve access from Highway 19 eastbound onto the QE2.

The twinning will be from Highway 60 to Range Road 261, and from Range Road 253 to the QE2.

The section between Range Road 261 and Range Road 253 is not yet part of the twinning project because the Edmonton International Airport is proposing a third runway that would require the highway to curve around it to the north.

Drysdale and an EIA official said the government and the airports authority will work together to ensure the runway and highway can both be accommodated.

“We are very happy that Alberta Transportation will commence twinning of Highway 19 and that they have protected the area needed for the runway,” EIA spokesman Chris Chodan said.

Tony Kulbisky, chief administrative officer for the Town of Devon, welcomed the twinning as “a gamechanger in developing the region” and “a huge relief to the entire community.”

Leduc- Beaumont MLA George Rogers said the southbound access lane off the QE2 will be a “huge” improvement for drivers headed to Nisku or the airport.

Rogers said he avoids driving on Highway 19.

“Highway 19 is dangerous,” Rogers said. “It’s not dangerous just for itself, but because it’s only two lanes and drivers are impatient, it’s a lot like Highway 63. We have some goofy things happen on there.

“And of course in the wintertime you get sloshy roads and the potential for people slipping across ( the centre line.) I personally lost a friend from Devon on that highway since I became an MLA.”

Barbara McKenzie, executive director of the Leduc- Nisku Economic Development Association, said the project will provide opportunities to open new land for industrial development. Twinning will improve road safety, she said.

“We’re really hoping that the fatality rates go down and the safety issues are addressed,” she said.