EDMONTON – Alberta Transportation Minister Ric McIver is offering people a glimpse at some of the landslide-ravaged highways in northwestern Alberta.
“I’m here to listen and learn more about local transportation needs to ensure that families and industry in the Peace region can continue to travel safely and efficiently,” he said Friday in a release.
The area surrounding Peace River, which is about 500 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, has the most slide activity in the province – nearly half of Alberta’s 341 slide sites can be found there.
As McIver toured Highway 744 south of Peace River and Highway 986 north of it, he posted the following photos on his Twitter page:
Melinda Steenbergen, with Alberta Transportation in northern Alberta, explains the Highway 986 slide is one of the many slide locations in the area that the province is monitoring closely.
“There is still two-way traffic at this site, though the detour has been moved several times away from the slide site,” she said in an email to Global News. “We made the call to close the third lane, a climbing lane, on June 25 after monitoring the area since June 2012 and tracking this slide since May 2013. A new temporary detour will be built this fall to serve traffic over the winter, then a more permanent repair will be completed next year. “
She also said the following pictures, which show how the highway has shifted over the last five months:
Judah Hill
According to the province, the repair work on Highway 744 – which was shut down near Peace River due to a “severe and active landslide” back in May – is being prepared for tendering in mid-October; incentives will be added to the contract to provide a single-lane detour. It’s hoped construction will begin by the end of this year and be completed by fall of 2014. More information on the schedule and cost will be available after the contract is awarded.
You can see photos of the Judah Hill slide here.
Pat’s Creek
Last month, work also began to repair the flood damage at Pat’s Creek. Single-lane westbound access on Highway 744 at 100 Street is expected to be restored by October 11, weather permitting. The road closure had to be extended after crews encountered a layer of shale in the bedrock, making pile driving more difficult than originally anticipated.
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Two-way Highway 744 traffic is expected to be restored in late October. A long-term flood mitigation solution for Pat’s Creek is under design. This contract will build on this repair work, and is expected to be implemented later this year, weather permitting.
You can see photos of the Pat’s Creek flooding here.
“Peace River has a strong economy and resilient people, and we won’t let landslides or flooding slow us down. There are twelve slide repair projects underway in this area, totaling $30 million, to make sure we can continue to transport ourselves and our products safely and reliably,” said Frank Oberle, Associate Minister of Services for Persons with Disabilities and MLA for Peace River.
The province has a Geohazard Risk Assessment Program in place to monitor slide sites throughout the province. Historically up to 70 per cent of the program’s $10 million annual budget has been allocated to monitoring and repairing slides in the Peace region.
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