Mayor worries Yellowhead funding could vanish
Mayor worries province may not commit to $1B highway upgrade
Mayor Don Iveson increased his lobbying efforts to get funding for Yellowhead Trail upgrades Monday, telling local businesses and the media the $1-billion project is now waiting on the province.
He said he’s worried if Alberta doesn’t commit to the project, limited federal funding will go to another Canadian community.
“There is some urgency,” he said Monday. “If we’re not able to move ahead in Alberta, where that stimulus ironically is needed the most, the federal government is looking to get those dollars out the door.”
Yellowhead Trail is part of the TransCanada Highway, but the 25 kilometres that run through Edmonton has a series of lights and uncontrolled access points. It averages 1,000 accidents a year with heavy truck traffic.
Edmonton wants to turn the entire road into a freeway. The 10year project would eliminate eight signalized intersections and more than a dozen non-signalized access points, build two new interchanges at 121 and 127 streets, modify three intersections and build several new collector roads.
Edmonton applied to the national portion of the Building Canada Fund, pitching the project as having a national economic impact. Iveson said Ottawa has expressed interest in funding its $242-million share. But it needs matching funds from the province. The city would match those dollars, too, plus contribute all land costs.
Several business associations and local business owners met with Iveson at the fire station off Yellowhead Trail.
Shelly Barabash of Skyline Sign Service said the congestion and accidents hurt her business when her crews are stuck in traffic rather than working. “It’s a main corridor. It’s a way to access almost every area of the city,” she said.
Allan Schmidt, executive director of the Northwest Industrial Business Association, said the biggest impact is on the trucking industry. It’s a tough call whether to take the Anthony Henday around and then cut back in to access a business on the opposite edge of the city, or to risk getting caught in congestion.
“It puts an unknown into the equation,” Schmidt said, saying a delay adds 30 minutes or an hour to the trip.
“This corridor is horrible for trucks. It’s so long overdue.”
Iveson said timing is critical because it would boost the local economy just as construction finishes on the Anthony Henday and downtown arena district projects. The province could backload its contribution, if necessary, to pay out after it starts getting a projected $62 million in provincial income taxes to be generated from the project.
Alberta Transportation Minister Brian Mason was unavailable for comment, but press secretary Aileen Machell released a statement: “We are looking closely at this proposal and continue to talk to the City of Edmonton and the federal government about the project in order to make the best decision for Albertans.”
The province is also being asked to match federal contributions on recent transit, environmental and social housing stimulus projects.