Twinning of Highway 63 (December 6)
Mr. Kang: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the snow falls and the air gets cold, that doesn’t mean that work on expanding our highways stops.
Planning for next construction season continues and budgets are made. You know what else doesn’t stop? Unnecessary deaths due to roads being dangerously over capacity.
To the Minister of Transportation: will the minister tell this House the target year when the twinning of Highway 63 south of Fort Mac will be completed and why progress on this 350 kilometres long project has been slow?
The Speaker: The hon. minister.
Mr. Danyluk: Well, thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’m very glad to be able to answer the hon. member’s question. This government is continually looking at upgrading roads in Alberta, whether it’s four-laning highways, whether it’s ensuring that this province, which is a commodity-based province, has the accessibility of moving its product to market. Highway 63 is exactly that highway, and we are continually working on that highway to ensure its safety.
Mr. Kang: That is very slow progress, Mr. Speaker. To the minister again. Given that according to the government’s documents only 36 kilometres of highway 63 south of Fort McMurray are scheduled to be twinned by 2014 and that, as we know, this dangerous highway constrains our economy and is a contributing factor in far too many accidents, does the minister find this pace of development acceptable?
Mr. Danyluk: Well, Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure if the hon. member has ever been in Fort McMurray. I want to say to him that there are overpasses; there are roads that are being built; there are interchanges that are being built; there are bridges that are being built. We have a budget that we are adhering to, and if the hon. member suggests that we should take some of the funding away from the ring road in Calgary, then what will happen is that we will very much try to increase that road.
Mr. Kang: That’s a ridiculous suggestion, Mr. Speaker.
To the minister again. Given that the government is planning to twin just over 10 per cent of highway 63 south of Fort McMurray by the end of 2014 – that is 10 per cent in five years, Mr. Speaker – will the government accelerate construction so that the project can be completed before the middle of the century?
Mr. Danyluk: Mr. Speaker, first of all, we are very much working on the north-south corridor. We’re working on the Canamex highway. We’re working, as I said before, on the corridors from Fort McMurray to Edmonton. There are over, I believe, 30,000 miles of road in this province, and we are working very hard to ensure that this province is treated equitably and that this province . . .
Alberta Hansard, December 6, 2011