Alberta government spending $22M to replace deadly Parkland County intersection
Alberta Transportation is spending $22 million over two years to move a dangerous intersection in Parkland County that has been the site of dozens of collisions — including some that were fatal.
The province intends to close the intersection of Highway 16A and Range Road 20, about 11 kilometres west of Stony Plain, and move the crossing further east.
"It would mitigate the issue of the sweeping grade at that corner," Lac St. Anne-Parkland MLA Shane Getson said at a news conference Thursday.
"The crossing of those two highways would take place further east where there's a flat area where you really have a good line of sight."
The announcement comes one month after about 100 people packed a meeting in Carvel hosted by Getson and Drayton Valley-Devon MLA Mark Smith.
People who lost loved ones are welcoming the news.
Jade Kwasnycia, a 22-year-old education student at the University of Alberta, died at the intersection last August when her car collided with a truck,
Since then, her father Bryan Kwasnycia has pushed the government to do something about a hazard he says has existed for at least 30 years.
Kwasnycia said he was in tears Wednesday night when he learned the government was finally going to do something after all these years.
"I was thinking, why did it have to be my daughter that finally got it onto the news media, finally got all the attention that it deserved?" he said in an interview with CBC News Thursday.
"It's just important that it gets changed and that no one else has to go through what we've been going through."
'It's always on your mind'
Jordi Weidman and his then 10-year-old son survived when his truck was T-boned by another vehicle in July 2021, two days before another driver lost their life in the same spot.
While he escaped serious injury, Weidman still goes to physiotherapy nearly two years after the collision.
Weidman welcomed the news that the intersection is changing.
"I was quite surprised, actually, to hear that it had been earmarked for such a large financial commitment to do some changes there," he said. "Pleasantly surprised."
Kwasnycia is also pleased to hear the government is taking action. But the news is a painful reminder of what he has lost.
"You wanna hear her walk in the door and say 'Papa,'" he said. "You still have that hope that it might happen one day.
"It's always on your mind. No matter what you're doing. She's always there."
