Traffic issues a headache in heartland

Transportation issues — and how they are managed — are a major source of frustration for people who live in or near Alberta’s Industrial Heartland region, a new survey shows.

The telephone survey of 400 residents was conducted in June for Life in the Heartland, an organization that provides residents with information about the petrochemical processing region northeast of Edmonton.

Survey respondents felt transportation was the most poorly managed among eight issues — the others were safety and emergency response; industrial development; noise from industrial operations; light from industrial operations; land use planning; air quality; and, water quality and quantity.

By comparison, 70 per cent of respondents ranked management of safety and emergency response issues as excellent or good.

The survey findings, released Thursday, will help efforts to have the provincial government address the region’s transportation headaches, said Vanessa Goodman, chairwoman of Life in the Heartland. Two of the most frustrating “pinch points” are the two- lane Highway 15 bridge over the North Saskatchewan River, and the intersection where Highway 15 connects with Highways 37 and 825

Traffic tie- ups are common at both locations, and collisions on the bridge, the area’s only crossing, can shut it down to all traffic.

Aaron Manton, press secretary to Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Brian Mason, said improvements are planned for the Highway 15/ 37/ 825 intersection.

It will get two “signalized” T- intersections with improved spacing between them, Manton said.

Design is expected to be complete summer of 2016, with construction starting in 2017, he said. Alberta Transportation is also working with municipalities on a study for a new river crossing.