(More from the mayor’s forum last Friday night.)
Speaking of the 781 intersection, Melesa Starcheski said we need to know what Alberta Transportation is planning “so we can lobby before. We need to convince them so part of their plan gets us what we want”.
However both Samson and McIntyre indicated plans are already in place and are no secret. Alberta Transportation plans to loop 781 over to join Highway 20.
“That’s their plan,” said McIntyre. “In reality it’s not the access we had three years ago, five years ago. The issue is we need to converse and negotiate with the provincial government. I can’t promise anything is going to change there, but I can promise communications.” He indicated he’d told the minister to accelerate those plans.
Samson said the town asked for lights at the 781-11 corner and was denied twice. The province wants to entirely close that intersection but the town was able to preserve a right-in, right-out access for the time being and Memorial Trail was completely paid for by the province.
Noting there are a lot of other things the town will be negotiating with the province (regional water, wastewater, and urgent care to name a few), Samson said, “you have to lobby when you know you’re going to have success”.