New highway interchange welcome news for Cochrane

Posted by on Thursday, April 13th, 2017 at 9:23am.

It's been 20 years since the Town of Cochrane has been lobbying the province for funding and those years of hard work have paid off.

On April 7, the provincial transport minister, Brian Mason announced the approval for the massive upgrade to the Highway 1A and Highway 22 interchange. The project is estimated to cost $40 to $50 million and should be completed at the end of the 2021 construction season.

Once completed, Highway 1A (which runs east/west) will be a four-lane twinned thoroughfare and will pass under Highway 22 (north/south) which will also be twinned. There will also be a bridge over the CPR tracks and a bridge across Big Hill Creek.

According to Mason's provincial timeline, an engineering consultant will be dispatched by the end of August and the design work should be finished about 18 months after that. Construction of the interchange will take about 24 months.

During the April 7 press conference, Minister Mason said the new interchange will alleviate present congestion, will provide commuters with a safer road, will help the economy by creating jobs and improving the transportation corridor for the forestry industry and will enhance tourism to the Cochrane area.

He said life in general will be better and convenient. There are a large number of highway projects on the province's "must-do" list, but Mason says it doesn't make sense to put off the Cochrane interchange any longer.

Cochrane is one of Alberta's fastest growing communities and the province needs to be more forward-thinking. What is a serious inconvenience today can grow to be a serious danger and that province really wants to prepare for the future and support the growth of Cochrane.

The Mayor of Cochrane, Ivan Brooker, was obviously very pleased at the announcement. He was made award of the announcement weeks before it took place and was sworn to secrecy as the province but the final touches on the plan.

Brooker told local media that he was overwhelmed at the announcement because it was a long time coming. He said he was happy for Cochrane residents because years and years of grumbling and complaints from residents will now come to an end.

New development to the north of Highway 1A, including the ever-expanding residential neighbourhood of Sunset Ridge, has substantially increased traffic at that intersection.

This major piece of infrastructure will be great once its completed, but while construction takes place, Cochrane residents will have to dig deeper for more patience because traffic will be even more snarled, particularly for north-bound and west-bound travelers as the plans stand now.

It will be worth the frustration says the Mayor once construction begins early in 2019.

The mayor and Cochrane town council have been pushing for the interchange ever since it was identified as a potential source of concern in 1995.

It was brought to the province's attention at that time and was put on the 10-year project list. By 2007, there were no plans in place – in fact, the province had removed the Highway 1A & 22 interchange from the project list, and when Cochrane waved some red flags, the interchange was simply added back to the 10-year list.

In 2010, Cochrane was awarded funding to the new interchange, but the change in provincial power after an election in 2011, from Stelmach to Redford, saw funding revoked.

When the NDP took hold in 2015, discussions had to start all over again.

That's when Mayor Brooker virtually camped out on the NDP's doorstep to make sure no one in Edmonton dropped the ball on this one.

Dr. Ross Watson, a long-time council member and booster for the Town of Cochrane, says no one should rest easy until the first car passes over the new interchange.

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