BONNYVILLE – A public information session for the Highway 28 project was held in Bonnyville at the Centennial Centre (C2) on June 26. A specific portion of the project is focused on a stretch of Bonnyville’s main street.
Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors has retained McElhanney Ltd. to manage the construction project in Bonnyville, which includes a stretch of road from 55th Street to 44th Street.
The stretch of road includes a large portion of the main thoroughfare through Bonnyville, with 55th street being on the west end of town, at the Highway 41 intersection, and 44th Street being on the west end of town, near the Centennial Centre intersection.
Brad Trimble, general manager of Engineering and Operations for the Town of Bonnyville, explained that the Town of Bonnyville does not have jurisdiction over the project.
“We’re definitely stakeholders in this project, but we're not driving the project, and we don't make any decisions. Obviously though, it's our main street, so we're pretty important stakeholders,” said Trimble.
The public information session was held to allow the public to see the plans for the project, and representatives from McElhanney Ltd. were present during the event to engage with attendees.
“[The main objective of the project] is to improve safety and traffic operations and reduce delays . . . [The] intent is for construction to start later in 2025,” said Derek Yin, Highways Division Manager for McElhanney Ltd.
Yin said the project will increase safety for all road users, including not only the highway, but for the local roads and pedestrians as well.
“The work is expected to be completed well within the available funding from Budget 2025 of $18 million for the safety improvements along Highway 28,” said Yin.
Trimble said it has been a “long standing goal” of council’s to address the safety concerns involving Highway 28.
“We’ve been pretty concerned about the pedestrian risk. This section of road has had a very high collision rate - much higher than the provincial average, so that is what’s driving this project. It’s designed to facilitate traffic flow, and the main goal is pedestrian safety . . . We’re really excited to see the impact this will have on our main street,” said Trimble.
When asked how the project will impact local businesses, Yin said, “there is almost no change to the current businesses. [The] Length of work zone will be managed to limit the impact to businesses during construction.”
Trimble said according to the current plans, on-street parking will remain, except for a small section by Home Hardware that will be removed due to the width of the highway, though the adjacent existing parking lot means there should not be any significant impact.
Yin said they received a lot of positive feedback during the public information session, and there was a lot of excitement about the project.
