The provincial government has committed $27.1 million to help St. Albert twin Ray Gibbon Drive.
Transportation Minister Brian Mason joined city councillors, including Mayor Cathy Heron, at the Enjoy Centre on Monday to announce the funding.
Heron said the city is “delighted” to have finalized a cost-sharing agreement with the province on the road.
“I must say, I admit I am very surprised to be standing here today,” Heron said.
The mayor said the twinning of the roadway was something councillors heard about from residents during the 2017 election and was one of the top priorities for council’s first strategic planning session. Now, just one year later, Heron said she is surprised they were able to secure funding to twin the road so quickly.
The province will share the cost of the project with the city, each paying for half of the total $54.2 million, with St. Albert front-ending the costs of the twinning.
Mason said the city will bear the costs for the first five or six years before the province chips in.
"Then we're going to make our contribution after that. So we're able to make the project work financially for the province and the city," he said.
Mason thanked the city for coming up with an “innovating financing” plan to get the road build.
In December, during the 2019 budget process, the city approved funding to start twinning the road for the first time. Councillors approved $780,000 in 2019 for the engineering and design of improvements from the southern city limit up past LeClair Way. The recommended 10-year capital plan also earmarks $7,914,000 in 2020 for construction along that leg of the road.
With the province now chipping in funding for half of the roadway, it can potentially free up some money for the city to spend on other capital projects, but Heron noted they will still be going “in the hole” for the road.
Heron said the road will still be financed through debt and will require a borrowing bylaw, which will come to council at a future date for approval.
Heron said the city was more inclined to self-finance last fall after engineers determined the road only needed to be four lanes and not a six-lane highway. The new vision for the road dropped the price dramatically and made it more palatable for both parties to finance together.
“I also think that this project was funded just to keep Marie (Renaud) from dragging MLAs and ministers to this very parking lot (the Enjoy Centre) just stare at traffic,” she joked on Monday afternoon.
St. Albert MLA Marie Renaud said she is extremely happy to have a deal worked out between the city and the province to finance the road. The MLA has brought countless provincial ministers out to St. Albert, with almost every trip ending at the Enjoy Centre at rush hour so they could witness firsthand the traffic congestion on Ray Gibbon Drive.
Renaud said the traffic on Ray Gibbon Drive is the number one issue she hears while door knocking, no matter what area of the city she is visiting.
Road remains local
Although the province will be paying for the roadway, they will not be taking over the ownership of the road and designating it as a provincial highway at this time.Heron said there is potential for future conversations around passing the ownership of the road off to the province and widening it even further.
The deal is also election-proof, as it is a contract between the province and the city, which Renaud said was important as they worked out the details of the agreement.
“This isn't about politics. This is about safety, it's about diversity and growth,” Renaud said.
The province said more than 20,000 vehicles use Ray Gibbon every day.
Heron said with the expanded capacity of Ray Gibbon Drive, it will take pressure off of traffic on the trail.
Mason said widening Ray Gibbon Drive will allow the region’s roads to handle St. Albert’s future growth, as well as the growth of surrounding areas.
“More people are moving here and more businesses are establishing themselves here. This project will help traffic move easier while creating construction jobs.”
Design work for the road is slated to begin this year, as was outlined during the 2019 municipal budget process. The design of the segment running from the south city limit to around 300 metres north of LeClair Way will begin first, with an estimated cost of $780,000.
Residents will see the construction of that phase of roadway in 2020, with a price tag of $7,914,000.
The project will be broken into four phases, with the second phase running from north of LeClair Way to north of McKenney Avenue, to be completed by 2022.
The third phase will run from McKenney Avenue to just north of Giroux Road and is slated to be completed by 2026.
The fourth and final phase will extend 300 metres north of the future Fowler Way and will be completed by 2029.
The province said the project will result in 152 direct jobs.
