The twinning of Highway 8 is long overdue, according to a Springbank resident, who is speaking out after a recent fatality May 25.
Just before 1 p.m. Cochrane RCMP attended a fatal collision between a tractor-trailer and sport utility vehicle on the highway near Springbank.
Witnesses on scene told police that the westbound SUV pulled out to pass another vehicle and ended up in oncoming traffic as the trailer unit was heading eastbound.
The two collided head-on and the SUV came to a rest in the north side of the highway ditch. The lone occupant of the SUV was pronounced dead on scene.
Police said they would not release information on the deceased as the investigation continues.
“We would like to see the highway twinned sooner than later,” said Herb Betschart, who lives near the highway.
He moved to the area 18 years ago and said at that time, he was told the twinning would occur in the next five years.
“People always blame the speeders but the root of the problem, in my opinion, are the oodles of people driving at 70 kilometres an hour and it’s posted at 100.”
He said because there is no way to pass, people stuck behind the slower drivers get “antsy” and make unsafe passing decisions.
He said there needs to be passing lanes put in place.
Wildrose MLA for Chestermere-Rocky View Bruce McAllister also said twinning needs to be a priority for the province.
“Something needs to be done to improve highway safety, doing nothing is no longer an option,” he said in a prepared statement.
“For the Minister of Transportation Ric McIver to simply suggest there isn’t too much traffic on the road is selling Albertans short.”
In order for a highway in Alberta to be eligible for twinning an average of 10,000 vehicles per day (VPD) need to travel on the road.
In McAllister’s announcement, made May 27, it said that currently 14,320 vehicles travel on that highway every day.
But, Parker Hogan, press secretary for McIver, said this isn’t true. He said the provincial portion of Highway 8 is still under the 10,000 VPD threshold.
“That being said, work is already occurring on development of the twinning design and Alberta Transportation is purchasing the right of way for the future development of the Highway 8 twinning,” said Hogan.
He said the twinning hasn’t been identified in the province’s three-year transportation plan because the numbers aren’t high enough yet, but said other work has begun to reduce collisions on the highway.
He said since 2007, $5.5 million has been spent on improving safety on Highway 8 including placing a roundabout at Highway 22 and Highway 8, installing rumble strips along the centre and shoulder lines and creating acceleration and deceleration lanes and dedicated left-hand turn lanes at Range Road 41 and Highway 8 as well as at Range Road 25 and the highway.
“We are very aware of (the issue) and are working on it. It may not be as fast as some folks would like it,” he said, explaining it takes time to create plans and buy the land for the expansion.
He said the No. 1 factor for a collision on Highway 8 is hitting an animal (48.5 per cent), followed by running off the road (21 per cent), then a same-direction collision (17 per cent) and head-on collisions coming in last (6.8 per cent).
“Unfortunately, all of the fatalities (on Highway 8) in the last five years is because of these (head-on) collisions,” he said.
