The Cochrane Eagle is asking candidates an issue-based question each week leading up to the election that they will answer in their own words. If a candidate does not answer a question, we will include a bio box with a disclaimer saying the candidate did not respond. All candidates were given a limit of 185 words and questions will be edited to fit that length. Our third question is:
How do you plan to address the town’s growing traffic congestion?
For 20 years we as a town have been asking the province to fix Highway 22 (north and South) and Highway 1A (east and west). For 20 years we have asked repeatedly with little or no action from Alberta Transportation. We have used meetings, relationships and even screaming at them and we have had little or no success.
I suggest we financially partner with the province to fix our highways. My suggestion is to work with the province and offer a full one-third of the cost of adding two lanes to Highway 22 through town and adding a fourth lane to Highway 1A down the hill.
With that offer, we move the build up to late 2018 and get these roads fixed. If we wait and continue using the tactics we have up to now, these projects will not happen until 2021, or not at all.
The future provincial election makes our present situation unknown at best.
If a Conservative government gets in, provincial funding may be cut and we may be back to the drawing board for another five years.
I want to act now.
