Fort McMurray Link Still Not Definite

Fort McMurray Link Still Not Definite

Tuesday, April 06, 2004 at 12:56

 

 

A spokesman for the Alberta government says there are no plans to complete the link between Fort McMurray and La Loche before 2007.

 

And, Trent Bancarz says there’s no guarantee it will happen at that point, either.

 

Northern leaders that have been pushing for the new highway thought they had received some assurances about the project from Premier Lorne Calvert.

 

A few months ago, Calvert told delegates at the SUMA convention that Alberta premier Ralph Klein had assured him that the highway would go ahead in 2005 as a project to celebrate Alberta’s centennial year.

 

No timeline for completion was given, but many northern leaders were hopeful the road would either be in place or started by next year.

 

But Bancarz says the proposed link is currently not on Alberta’ 3-year plan for highway projects.

 

However, Bancarz says that plan is revised every year and projects can be added at that time.

 

Bancarz also says the Alberta government is currently awaiting the results of a feasibility study on the project, which is being conducted by Western Economic Diversification.