
A road sign indicating the next 19 kilometres of Highway 9 towards Youngstown is rough with potholes. Seen just west of Stanmore, Alta. ECA Review/Submitted
These projects are part of the $2 billion that the government announced on April 9 in response to the COVID-19 recession.
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; and LED lighting retrofit in the central region.
“Every region of the province has felt the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis and the collapse of energy prices,” said Ric McIver, Minister of Transportation.
“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.”
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.
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 and 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.
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