If you feel uneasy about driving Highway 40 South, there are plans in the works to make it a little more safe. Regional Director with Alberta Transportation Ryan Konowalyk says the amount of traffic travelling south has triggered the need to twin part of the highway.
“Right now, we are hiring a design consultant to prepare a design and tender package to get the tender ready for the twinning. It will be from the city south to the Wapiti River. It will include an additional structure over the Wapiti.”
There is no set timeline as the project hasn’t made it into the province’s 3 year plan yet. Konowalyk says the project could get started within 4 to 10 years down the road.
“We publish a three year provincial construction program publicly. You can see all the projects we plan to do within three years. Every year projects come into the list that weren’t on it. This project right now doesn’t have a year associated with it.”
Konowalyk says the price tag on it has also not been set because that will come after engineering design plans. The bridge part of the project is estimated at between $17 million and $20 million.
