Preferred routes have been selected by consultants for the Alberta Ministry of Transportation for the truck bypass around Athabasca. CastleGlenn Consultants Inc.
Preferred routes have been selected by consultants for the Alberta Ministry of Transportation for the truck bypass around Athabasca.
CastleGlenn Consultants Inc. presented several routes last Tuesday at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex during a bypass open house, the preferred route being a $45-million road that would pass through Colinton.
Two other top routes were also highlighted.
Arthur Gordon, a principal with CastleGlenn who is working on the project, said, “Alberta Transportation has listened to both the county, as well as to the town, and individuals who are concerned about truck traffic traveling through the community. The provincial government is very interested in what you have to say. ”
The Athabasca area has seen three-per-cent growth per year in industrial traffic for the last decade, according to Gordon.
“It is higher than the provincial average of 1.6 per cent, ” he said. “You do have a lot of growth taking place in heavy vehicle traffic. ”
Gordon said the expected growth of Wabasca, a community of approximately 1,500 people, might have an impact on the project.
“If that community does take off, and they are talking anywhere up to 7,000 people that could potentially develop over time, there seems to be a straight line all the way into the heart of Athabasca, ” he said. “People were concerned with the impact of all that industrial traffic also coming through our community. ”
He explained that another route would be looked at for industrial traffic traveling south from Wabasca, as the routes being considered that evening would only address northbound traffic coming into town.
“Highway 63 is the natural corridor for those heavy vehicles, ” he explained, as the highway is already built to handle large and heavy loads.
Gordon said the route to Highway 63 would use the Al-Pac bridge.
“All the other people would not use that route. They will still use 813 coming into Athabasca, ” he said.
When CastleGlenn recorded traffic volumes, it noted 10 per cent of traffic in Athabasca is truck traffic.
“If we look just at trucks, there are roughly 1,000 vehicles on that small stretch per day, ” he said, pointing to the stretch of road between Highway 813 and Highway 2 south. “Then it splits off to be 418 going south and 600 and some odd off to the east. ”
Gordon said CastleGlenn looked at retrofitting the 50 Street and 50 Avenue intersection.
“This plan did incorporate medians and did allow individuals a greater arch to be able to circulate in terms of turning movements, but it was deemed not viable, ” he said. “The reason it is not viable was because Athabasca Landing commercial building is now being built. Their site lines go right to the curb.
“It would also require the Athabasca Train Station to be moved, as well as land from Gregg Distributors, ” he explained.
“The concept was developed. It fails to get trucks out of town, but it does allow for greater maneuverability -but it is still deemed not viable. ”
Of the six bypass alternatives, two to the east and four to the west, CastleGlenn has chosen alignment 3-Wc as being the most viable alternative on the west, though not as desirable as the top two options on the east.
“When everything was put together, we ended up with 3-Wc being the winner (on the west), ” Gordon said. “But what does 3-Wc actually look like?
“There will be an intersection at Highway 2, an intersection with Township Road 652, and another one with Township Road 654, and then swing over to Range Road 231 and continue all the way to Highway 2, ” he said. “Stage B could see a linear road that would be to the north of Muskeg (Creek) Valley, into the area of the multiplex. ”
The estimated cost is more than $45 million for this alignment, with the construction of 16 new kilometres of highway.
However, Gordon said alignment 3-Wc would only reroute approximately seven per cent of the heavy trucks out of Athabasca ’s downtown core.
“It is a lot of money to try and solve a problem, and it is not very effective at solving the problem in terms of people using it, ” he said.
The consultant said the preferred route was the cheapest one that also redirected the most traffic away from Athabasca. The routes that best fit this description were two similar alignments east of Athabasca.
Both the top two routes affect the hamlet of Colinton.
Route 7-Ea, which is an alignment that creates a 450-metre curve around Colinton, is estimated to cost $12.5 million to build, plus an additional $3 million or more to upgrade existing roads.
According to Gordon, this is a low-cost option, with the shortest length for a bypass.
Highway 663 would become this alignment, with the existing road from Highway 2 to Highway 827 being repaved with wider shoulders. This would create a ring around Colinton to connect with Highway 663 on the east side of the community.
The pitfalls of this alignment include traffic abiding by a 90-kilometres-per-hour speed limit. It would also result in three mobile homes being relocated.
Route 7-Eb, while very similar to route 7-Ea, would have vehicles traveling at highway speeds of 100 kilometres an hour.
This option would require the relocation of four mobile homes and one house.
This alignment would have a bigger curve than alignment 7-Ea to allow vehicles to travel at greater speeds.
The total cost for this alignment equals $25 million plus the cost to upgrade Highway 663.
Approximately 75 community members attended Tuesday ’s open house. Many people from Colinton voiced their concerns regarding the bypass.
A community consultation is scheduled in Colinton July 17 at the Community Centre to hear the community ’s concerns.
