Photo: Shaun Penner

By Emily Keller

highway 40

Province announces cost-sharing agreement in place to twin Highway 40

Feb 20, 2020 | 2:31 PM

The Alberta government announced a cost-sharing agreement Thursday with the M.D. of Greenview and County of Grande Prairie to twin a 19-kilometre stretch of Highway 40.

The province says the agreement means that construction-related activities can now begin as early as summer 2020.

“Highway 40 is part of our government’s commitment to build critical infrastructure that will create jobs and grow the economy,” said GP-Wapiti MLA and Minister of Finance Travis Toews. “This project will not only improve the safety of this route but will lead to increased investment and needed jobs for Albertans.”

“Highway 40 is a critical trade corridor for the Grande Prairie region and I’m pleased we have the support of the MD of Greenview as well as the County of Grande Prairie for this project.”

The government says they will not release cost estimates until the contract has been awarded but does say that a project like this would cost between $100 and $120 million.

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The project is to include the twinning of 19 kilometres of highway from south of the city to just south of the Norbord Wood Panel Plant, a second bridge over the Wapiti River with a pedestrian walkway, bridge and intersection improvements and a median vehicle inspection station.

They add that traffic on this segment of Highway 40 has increased by approximately 70 per cent over the last five years.

In September of last year, the County released a report that they hoped would advocate for the twinning project. That report showed that traffic on this segment of Highway 40 has increased by approximately 70 per cent over the last five years.

“This investment recognizes the urgency of expediting work on this key transportation link to improve safety for workers in the region’s resource sectors as well as tourists travelling to and from the mountain parks and beyond,” said County of Grande Prairie Reeve Leanne Beaupre. “Enhancements to Highway 40 are vital to stimulating economic development, including the recently announced Tri-Municipal Industrial Partnership Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Alberta. By working together, we can inject dollars into infrastructure upgrades when they’re most needed.”

The former NDP government had an alignment plan that been finalized to twin the stretch of road that would see construction begin in 2022, and be completed in 2024, and that an additional bridge over the Wapiti River would be built by the end of 2018.

This is the first announcement the United Conservative Party has made on the project since taking office in the spring of 2019.