Politicians, writers and residents of northern Alberta are all pushing the province to speed up work on highway 63, arguing the longer the road stays undivided, the more lives will be lost.
Just one day after seven people were killed in a head-on crash near the KM 88 marker, more than 4,500 people have signed an online petition calling for the government to finish twinning the 240-kilometre thoroughfare.
Over 650 have also indicated they plan to attend a protest rally next weekend, hoping to ensure the cause stays in the spotlight.
"It is an issue that has been much discussed and too often, at least in our minds, ignored," said Fort McMurray writer Theresa Wells in an open letter to the premier. "[Highway 63] is our connection to everything, and it is, in some ways, our lifeline. And in other ways it is killing us, picking us off one by one in senseless accidents. And the time has come for this to end."
Newly elected Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo MLA Mike Allen agrees the province needs to ramp up efforts to finish the project.
"The anger is being directed at the lack of progress or the feeling of lack of progress on the twinning of that highway and rightfully so," he said. "I do know from our discussions with premier Redford, Highway 63 and the completion twinning of it is a priority for this government."
Alberta Transportation will not provide a completion date for the road work, but says 33 kilometres of the highway have been twinned since 2006. An additional 36 kilometres should be done by next fall, and land has been cleared for 200 kilometres.
"The government has spent a billion dollars to date, since 2008," said spokesperson Donna Babchishin. "We're all working together to reduce the amount of collisions on that highway and to have it fully twinned."
Provincial officials also say the collision rate on highway 63 is going down, and is now below the provincial average. Still, the moniker ‘Alberta's deadliest highway' speaks to the size and weight of many vehicles travelling the road.
Allen says it's important to note a lot of work is being done behind the scenes to move forward, with land acquisition and environmental concerns two issues that have slowed down the process.
He vows to keep residents better informed.
"We'll be advocating for a timely completion and we will certainly be communicating the progress in a much more efficient manner."
With Files from Sean Amato
