Town of Olds learned last week that Alberta Transportation has
pulled the planned upgrade that was to be done on the Highway 2 and Highway 27
interchange.
“That work will not be done
in 2012-2013. That is pretty disappointing,” said Norm McInnis, Town of Olds
CAO.
“All we have been told is
that there is no money in the [Alberta Transportation] 2012-2013 budget.”
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| Highway 2 and 27 Interchange, East of Olds-Alberta-Canada |
“The items had to do with
doing some work on the median and to the approaches. It was sort of hidden
away,” said McInnis.
“Typically, they have a
three-year budget and they can tell us with some certainty when things will be
done. It appears as though that has changed somewhat.”
Alberta Transportation has
requested a meeting with town officials to talk about how this will impact the
town’s plans.
“That meeting will happen as
soon as we can get together,” said McInnis.
“It will be good to sit down
and just understand why it is not as high-priority as we hoped it would be.”
Last July, Alberta
Transportation had held an open house to inform residents on plans being
tendered to update the interchange. Roundabout specialist Phil Weber of Ourston
Roundabout Engineering and senior engineer Alan Griffith of Genivar had
explained that the updated interchange would consist of two roundabouts and an
on- and off-ramp for both southbound and northbound Highway 2 traffic. These
on- and off-ramps would meet at roundabouts on the west and east sides of the
existing overpass that spans Highway 2.
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| Proposed Design |
The planned upgrade was
intended to replace the existing interchange from 1966, which no longer
conforms to Alberta Transportation standards.
Current interchange problems
include poor vision angles at yield signs from the Highway 27 on-ramps, the
dangerous weave zone on Highway 2 north, and the cloverleaves, which do not
allow for proper acceleration before merging.
“I think that a lot of folks
are concerned about the safety of the interchange,” said McInnis.
“We were hoping that it would
be a higher priority (for Alberta Transportation).”
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