The provincial government says there are no plans to upgrade Highway 7 in the near future, despite a recent fatality and several other incidents this year.
There have been a number of serious collisions on the busy highway between Okotoks and Black Diamond in the past year, including two major accidents one day apart at Big Rock Trail (16 Street) in January and a fatality at 64 Street on July 29.
The MD of Foothills has approached the provincial government to review the highway and consider options to make it safer, to no avail.
Jerry Lau, Alberta Transportation infrastructure manager, said the Province will continue to monitor the highway, but there aren’t any improvements in the works.
“I can confirm we are not looking at this intersection where the fatality occurred at this time and at this time we have no plans to upgrade this portion of Highway 7,” he said.
Lau said the Province has conducted reviews of the highway in the past and concluded the amount of traffic does not warrant improvements. There could be another study in the future, though it’s not in the books right now, he said.
With the recent annexation of land south of Highway 7 into the Town of Okotoks and Wind Walk development getting underway in the next year, he said the Province intends to keep an eye on the town’s growth and the highway.
“We will continue to monitor what’s happening with the highway and the growth of Okotoks, and then the program is a rolling program, so it gets continually updated every year, so we would just continue to monitor what’s happening,” said Lau.
MD Coun. Delilah Miller says this isn’t good enough.
She was shocked to hear the Province has no plans for Highway 7 after the MD was told in the spring there would be improvements coming at 16 Street.
“We were told, because we were going to do our own engineering study, they stepped up to the plate and said they would do an upgrade there,” said Miller. “But we’ll pound away at them and hopefully they’ll make a commitment to it.”
She said she’d like to see Highway 7 twinned. Barring that, she’s suggested everything from closing access on Big Rock Trail to putting in rumble strips at the approach to each major intersection to warn drivers.
If increasing the pressure doesn’t work, she said the MD will go back to its original plan, and complete an engineering study on its own and present the findings to the Province to get upgrades done.
The problem is incidents that occur on the highway are considered “driver-error” so the Province sees no reason to fix the road, she said.
Miller says it’s more than driver error – it’s a poorly planned and dangerous highway.
“It’s narrow to begin with and there are so many turn-offs on that road for residents that it’s an unusual highway and that’s what makes it so dangerous,” said Miller. “That’s what I have to keep impressing on the Province and that’s what I’ll try this time.”
It’s been a long, ongoing process and Miller said she won’t rest until something is done to make the highway safer.
“Other people, predecessors of mine, have said that Tongue Creek or Highway 543 need the upgrading, but not in my opinion,” said Miller. “This one is way worse and has way more traffic and very little shoulder.
“The Province needs to do something here, before more lives are lost. They’ve got to come up with some kind of solution to let people travel safely.”
