The City of Airdrie began construction of an overpass at 40 Avenue over the CP Rail tracks in the southwest on March 23, according to Adam Carroll, municipal engineering technologist.
The overpass is part of the City’s overall plan to eventually link 40 Avenue with Highway 2, despite no assurances from the Province of Alberta that construction of an interchange with the highway will be forthcoming.
“The interchange is a Provincial project but the work that we’re doing right now will definitely help tie into that, for sure,” Carroll said.
The area where the overpass is being built is on the south side of the Morningside community. Carroll said residents in the area should not see too much disruption because the area is not currently developed. The Morningside pathway will remain open throughout construction, which Carroll said will be complete by October.
“Once that’s done, the developer, Vesta, is going to develop on both sides of the tracks – commercial and residential. We’re anticipating the traffic volumes and the flow to increase and we’re also trying to tie in 40 Avenue with Main Street and the transit terminal.
“Connecting the east side and the west side of the tracks is a big reason we’re doing this,” he said.
The overall 40 Avenue project, which includes the overpass currently under construction, is budgeted to cost the City about $11.5 million, according to the City’s Senior Accounting Technician Monica Labait.
“It is being funded through the Small Communities Grant Fund - $3 million,” she said. “The balance is being paid through the developer levies, not the tax base.”
At a special meeting of City council March 23, 2015, staff brought forth a proposal to make an application to the Canada-Alberta Building Canada Small Communities Fund to support two important infrastructure projects in Airdrie – the extension of 40 Avenue between Reynolds Gate and Main Street, and the Yankee Valley Boulevard grade separation project.
The grant program was announced by the federal government in 2014, however the Province did not approve their part of the funding model until early in 2015. Municipalities with a population of less than 100,000 were eligible to apply to the Small Communities Fund.
“We are receiving $6 million,” Labait said. “We are attributing some to this project and the balance to the design of the 40 Avenue interchange. The full $6 million is going to this project overall, but $3 million above the $11,510,400 for this project is going to the interchange design.”
Labait said the City’s application for funding through the grant for the Yankee Valley Boulevard grade separation project was not successful.
