Westlock County will continue negotiating with the province in its ongoing quest to have at least two entrances off Highway 44 onto its industrial park.
At their May 9 meeting in a recorded vote, councillors voted 6-1 to approve a two-part motion that will see it meet with the transportation minister to discuss costs and concerns with a proposed closure of the park’s southern-most entrance.
Of the proposed closures to two of the three entrances, county chief administrative officer Leo Ludwig told council it would be unwise to only have one entrance to the industrial park.
“If there was ever an incident involving hazardous material, having only one access could create a safety concern,” he said. “There is no ability to provide vehicle access from any of the other sides.”
In addition, county administration will continue to meet with provincial officials to modify a draft design, paid for by the county in 2012 but never formally presented to council, which includes the closure of the park’s northern and southern entrances. Ludwig explained that the current administration is against closing the southern intersection for safety reasons.
“We are in discussion with Alberta Transportation to see if they would alter the design that they are working on,” said Ludwig. “The other matter that came up was cost sharing. It’s the standard practice in the province that there is a cost-sharing agreement on improvements.”
Ludwig told council that a draft Traffic Impact Assessment was completed in 2008 by engineering firm AMEC. A final report was completed in 2012, though Ludwig said he could not find a record of the report being presented to council meaning the report’s recommendations were never adopted.
The 35-page document recommends that both the northern and southern access intersections to the industrial park be closed and the middle intersection be upgraded to a Type IVa intersection, which includes auxiliary lanes to assist in turning.
It also recommends improving the service road that runs parallel to the industrial park and Highway 44.
The 2012 report estimated the costs of the improvements would be $985,000.
As for the project cost, Ludwig said the county would have to pay at least a portion. With the 2017 budget already finalized, he noted there have been discussions about the province fronting the dough, with the county paying some in the future.
Coun. Ray Marquette, who voted against the motion and asked for the recorded vote, questioned where the money will come from to do the work.
“This council may not have been here, but now we have the cost.” he said. “Is the money going to fall from the sky?”
Coun. Bud Massey urged council to push forward, noting that the sooner the red tape is cleared up, the sooner work could be completed and further sales of lots in the park could happen.
“Time is of the essence,” he said. “The province wants to get on with work this summer.”
Alberta Transportation met with county council Jan. 24 to inform them of the province’s plans for a number of highway projects in the Westlock area.
Then on April 20 the province announced that a 38-kilomtre stretch of Highway 44 south of the Town of Westlock will be repaved in 2017.
