Highway 63 to be twinned by fall 2016

63-twinning-timeline-announcement

Oct 19, 2012 at 10:29 am in Community, News by tyler.king

The Alberta government has announced that all 240 kilometres of Highway 63 from Fort McMurray to Highway 55 will be twinned by fall of 2016.

The province also announced that 36 twinned kilometres of Highway 63 north of Wandering River will open on Monday, almost a year ahead of schedule.

“In four years, if we stand right here, we’ll be standing on the fully twinned highway through that section,” said McIver after a tour of the new stretch of twinned road. “This is a commitment by our government to safety and long term growth, and we are investing in the strategic transportation corridor, including Highway 881.”

Today’s announcement brings the total twinned portion of the highway south of Fort McMurray to 52km – 22% of the total.

It says the opening will be weather-permitting.

The new northbound lanes will include extra wide right-hand shoulder lanes to accommodate oversize loads.

It’s committing 778 million dollars to the twinning, as well as 308 million for extra improvements to Highway 881.

It says the decision to allocate the money now means the twinning will be done seven years earlier than scheduled.

The government originally committed to twinning all 240 kilometers from Fort McMurray to Highway 55 back in 2006.

Deputy Mayor Russell Thomas

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MLA Mike Allen

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Transportation Minister Ric McIver

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