Highway 28 and Main Street intersection gets the go-ahead

A major overhaul of Cold Lake’s busiest intersection was approved at council after prices for the first phase of the Highway 28 twinning project came in lower than expected.

“This intersection is at the end of its life cycle so we’re very happy to get favourable prices for the work,” City of Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland said.

The intersection of Main Street, Highway 28 and Veteran’s Avenue will receive a complete overhaul that will bring the intersection in line with the Highway 28 Functional Design. Utility work running under the area will also be completed at the same time.

The entire project will stretch along Highway 28 from 54 Avenue to just south of 51 Street. Although pre-tender estimates for the project were $12.6 million, the prices came in at $10.2 million. Council had debated several scaled-back versions of the project, however, with the competitive prices offered, council voted to accommodate the project’s full scope in the 2016 capital budget.

“This is Cold Lake’s busiest intersection – it sees over 20,000 vehicles pass through it each day,” Cold Lake’s Chief Administrative Officer, Kevin Nagoya, said. “Accommodating traffic will be a big challenge, but the short-term pain will result in a very long-term gain. We will have a main intersection that is aesthetically pleasing and much more functional. The final result will move traffic much more efficiently.”

The Highway 28 Functional Design will ultimately see the highway twinned from 54 Avenue south to the City limits. This first phase accommodates the most complex and challenging part of the functional design.

“As we move farther south along the highway to complete future phases of the functional design, it will become much easier to accommodate traffic as work is going on,” Nagoya said. “It’s certainly positive that we are getting the hardest part of this project finished first. We know that there will be some frustration with the work in this intersection, but the final result will be worth it.”

The project is expected to be awarded in the coming days, with work starting in about two weeks. The project will take approximately two years to finish. The Highway 28 Functional Design Study is available on the City’s website at: www.coldlake.com/content/council-plans-reports-and-studies.

*Press Release from the City of Cold Lake