Athabasca News

Matthew Liddell gears up for the Athabasca Loppet on Saturday. Lots of skiers challenged the Muskeg Creek Trails at the event. For more from the race, see page 19A.

Severe weather forced the closure of Highway 63 last Thursday night until late Friday night. Highway 881 was also closed for a period of this time due to vehicle collisions.

Athabasca Countyís operating and capital budgets were unanimously passed at the Jan. 8 council meeting, highlighted by a report from county administrator Gary Buchanan.

Athabasca County wants to meet with Alberta Transportation to discuss their local projects, including the truck bypass around the Town of Athabasca and the new bridge crossing of the Athabasca River.

Two vehicles collided at the bottom of the east hill in Athabasca at approximately 5:30 p.m. Saturday as traffic attempted to navigate around a semi truck stopped at the side of Highway 55 eastbound.

Highway 63 will remain closed into the day Friday after it was shut down early Thursday night. ìCurrent weather conditions are very unfavorable and travel is still not recommended,î said a press release from Cst.

Highways 63 and 881 to Fort McMurray were both closed Thursday night due to extreme weather and related collisions. The highways will remain closed until Friday morning at 8 a.m. when road conditions will be reassessed by Alberta Transportation.

Danielle Knopp focuses as she hurls the rock during the Athabasca Curling Club's annual mixed bonspiel last weekend. Local and visiting teams spent the weekend competing on the ice and enjoying themselves off of it.

An information session shed some light on the future of the Alice B. Donahue Library last Tuesday.

Accidents caused by drunk drivers continue to claim lives in Canada, and that ís not going to change until the penalties for doing so become more severe.