Hello, Cochrane, it’s Fall 2018 and I have traffic on my mind.
It’s our first year into our council term and I’m proud we have put shovels into the ground for the new Bow River bridge to connect south Cochrane to Griffin Road, tentatively to open in two short years. This project will greatly reduce traffic on Highway 22 and connect south Cochrane to the downtown core, with an alternative route to Highway 22.
This August, we met with CP Rail to discuss potential grade separated crossings to facilitate more efficient traffic flow in our downtown core. Regardless of the CP Rail schedule, we’re currently engaged in engineering drawings for underpass solutions and are working closely with CP Rail to leverage assistance to access federal and provincial grants available for rail infrastructure upgrades. We are confident with a four-way partnership, we will be successful in allowing both vehicle and train traffic to flow continuously.
This September, provincial support for our desperately needed Highway 1A and Highway 22 intersection was reaffirmed during a meeting with Alberta Transportation Minister Brian Mason, with construction scheduled to proceed in 2019. This project will provide major relief to our Highway 22 traffic issues and impact every resident daily, giving you your time back that isn’t spent waiting in traffic.
In less than a month, council begins budget deliberations. This is the first three-year budget, allowing us to allocate long-term funding toward solving and prioritizing our inherited traffic and infrastructure concerns. We are glad to see this will begin with a widening of Centre Avenue to improve traffic flow through town. I would also like to seek intersection improvements along Highway 1A at Centre Avenue and Fifth Avenue to eliminate stop and go wait times, and reduce time spent waiting in traffic descending the Cochrane hill at the end of a long work day.
As well, we’ve heard our residents living in new, disconnected communities in Cochrane and we’re prioritizing pathway connections to give those outlying residential areas the opportunity to access the town in a pedestrian- and cycling-friendly manner.
As a council, we are committed to addressing the concerns expressed last fall during the election, and we’re eagerly anticipating upcoming solutions, both those already underway and more still to come.
