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.”
Town officials expected work on the interchange to be done this summer, as the last Alberta Transportation three-year budget had specific items pertaining to the project.
“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.
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).”
