Construction on upgrades to the interchange of highways 2 and 27 east of Olds could begin this week.
Construction on upgrades to the interchange of highways 2 and 27 east of Olds could begin this week.
Andy Hudson, Alberta Transportation’s construction manager for the province’s central region, said the ministry is still in final negotiations with Carmacks Enterprises, the construction contractor that won the tender for the project, but the hope is construction will start on changes to highway entrances and exits at the interchange by the end of the month at the latest.
He added that, weather permitting, construction will wrap up before the end of September.
The province announced "short-term" small-scale upgrades for the interchange in April to address safety concerns about weaving, poor visibility and a lack of space to accelerate before merging onto Highway 2.
Once the changes are completed, travellers heading east on Highway 27 will no longer use the current curving off-ramp to enter the northbound lanes of Highway 2.
Instead, a new intersection at the east side of the interchange will allow vehicles to turn left onto a straight ramp that will lead to the northbound Highway 2 lanes.
This change will eliminate current traffic problems caused by vehicles using the same small portion of roadway while entering and exiting Highway 2’s northbound lanes beneath the overpass.
And travellers heading westbound on Highway 27 wishing to merge onto the southbound lanes of Highway 2 will no longer use an off-ramp that curves underneath the overpass.
Instead, under the modifications planned for the interchange, those travellers will turn left at a new intersection on the west side of the interchange onto a straight ramp that will lead to Highway 2’s southbound lanes.
Hudson said the budget for the project, originally estimated at roughly $1 million, is "growing."
"We’re looking at more like $2 million now."
Lane closures are unlikely on either highway, he added, but there will be traffic disruptions.
When work begins on the southbound on-ramp onto Highway 2, the laneway will be narrowed requiring a slowing of traffic and the speed limit in the construction zone on the Highway 27 overpass will be reduced from 100 kilometres an hour to 50 km/h.
Workers may also "cordon off areas" where they are working, Hudson said.
The majority of work will take place during the day but "there may be the odd nighttime, non-peak closure where we have to tie something in," he added.
Such tie-ins will include shoulder closures on Highway 2 when crews link the new ramp ways to that roadway.
Access to both highways will always remain open, Hudson said.
Trent Bancarz, an Alberta Transportation spokesman, said the province still has a long-term plan for the interchange.
That plan was estimated to cost roughly $15 million and includes the construction of two roundabouts on Highway 27 on the west and east sides of the overpass spanning Highway 2 as well as an on- and off-ramp for both southbound and northbound Highway 2 traffic.
The project would have taken roughly three years to finish with a completion date of 2015.
Bancarz said the upgrades about to begin on the interchange will allow for long-term improvements down the road.
"What we’re doing now is going to be compatible with future changes," he said, adding the roundabout system would also allow for the 46-year-old bridge to remain in place.
The larger scale improvement plans for the interchange were put on hold last year when Alberta Transportation’s budget was cut.
Such a delay forced the Olds Agricultural Society to stall its plans to build a $50- million facility known as the Gateway Project that would have included convention, community, agriculture and interpretive facilities, a 100-room hotel, a combination casino and racetrack and a grandstand.
The society had hoped to build the project on land at the northeast corner of the intersection of the highways.
Tami Gardner, the society’s executive director, said despite the pending upgrade work for the interchange, the Gateway Project is still "backburnered."
She said it is possible the project could go forward one day, but interchange improvements are only one factor affecting the project’s future.
A challenging economic climate and uncertainties at the Balzac racetrack are also "major question marks."
Gardner also questioned whether Alberta Transportation would want to give up land where the project would go given the ministry’s long-term plan for the interchange.
"Are they going to be looking to sell their landholdings when they finish this temporary fix? I have no idea," she said.
Bancarz said if any land is left over once more permanent interchange upgrades are complete, that land could be put up for sale.
Mountain View County reeve Bruce Beattie said the project is a "wise investment" for the safety of motorists entering and exiting Highway 2 at Olds.
"That interchange has been a concern for a number of years. It is really one of the last ones of that type on that highway," Beattie said, noting the project was announced after extensive lobbying from the county, the Town of Olds and Bruce Rowe, the Wild Rose MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.
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