Twinning of Highway 2 bridge in Peace River to start this year

A masive construction project to twin a bridge over the Peace River in the town of the same name is expected to begin this summer.

The twinned Peace River Bridge on Highway 2 will relieve traffic congestion and improve cross-river access for emergency vehicles.

And the construction itself will provide a needed boost to the local economy, providing much-needed jobs, officials say.

The project has been in the works since 2001 and many think it's long overdue.

"That bridge was built in 1967-68 and is carrying about 17,000 vehicles on it a day and I believe it was only designed for about 3,000 to 5,000 vehicles," Peace River Mayor Tom Tarpey said this week.

The traffic volume can be a concern in an emergency situation.

"The hospital is on the west side of the river, the schools and the police station and fire department are on the east side," said Ryan Konowalyk, director of the Peace River region for Alberta Transportation.

"In the case of an accident or maintenance activity on the existing bridge it, it's a 75-kilometre detour north around to the Daishowa pulp mill to get around to the other side of the river."

Exact costs won't be known until the construction has been put out to tender, but in its most recent capital plan, the Alberta government earmarked $160 million for the project — $20 million for 2016-17, $100 million in 2017-18 and another $40 million in 2018-19.

Pedestrian walkway with LED lights

When the twinning is complete, traffic will flow west through Peace River on the new bridge and east through the town on the old bridge. As part of the same project, 1.6 kilometres of Highway 2 through Peace River will also be twinned.

The new bridge will have a pedestrian walkway underneath it, lit with colour-changing LED lights, according to Alberta Transportation.

Twinning the bridge, which is a major corridor to points north, is also expected to have a positive impact on the struggling economy.

"The economy is a bit on the lowdown, things have slowed down definitely," said Mathieu Bergeron, Peace River's director of planning and community development.

"Any major construction is always great, especially [long-term] projects where you mobilize people for a long period of time.

"With the different phases of this project, for sure there's going to be some people that will come in, move in, love the region and hopefully bring their families."

'An important connection'

The mayor agrees the bridge project will benefit the economy.

"The province of Alberta, recognizing that this is an important connection to northwestern Alberta, as part of their jobs creation program to get us through the economic trough that we're in, has decided that they will put in money and build a second parallel bridge to the existing one." Tarpey said.

While construction hasn't yet started, the wheels are already moving.

Phase 1, which involved the clean-up of the former town maintenance shop site, was completed in December, said Konowalyk. Phase 2, the remediation of a former Imperial Oil site, is currently out for tender.

The third phase is the main bridge and road works. It will go to tender this spring, while the second-phase work is ongoing.

The project is expected to be completed by the fall of 2020.