Edmonton – Alberta Liberal Transportation critic Harry Chase and Alberta Liberal Labour critic Dan Backs presented a list of possible short term recommendations today on how to improve safety conditions on highway 63 while it awaits twinning by the Alberta government.

Read and comment on the Highway 63 blog here!

Chase and Backs were in Fort McMurray earlier this week to meet with Labour Council and Building Trades, Mayor Melissa Blake, Councillor Renee Rebus, and Regional Manager Bill Newell.

“It is clear by the senseless number of deaths that have occurred on this highway the past year that we simply cannot wait for the funding to be put in place by the government,” said Chase. “Short term solutions are needed to end the ongoing tragedy that takes place on this road.”

The two Liberal MLAs will be presenting a letter to Transportation Minister Lyle Oberg detailing some of their short term recommendations which include:

Recommendation #1: Commence twinning the highways immediately. This opinion was shared among all consulted stakeholders.

Recommendation #2: Establish an emergency paramedical and response service at Mariana Lake. The site should accomodate a 24 hour Air Ambulance service. The present medical emergency turn-around time is unacceptable. Stakeholders indicate that accident victims can wait up to three hours or more before reaching a hospital.

Recommendation #3: Implement the McDermid Report Recommendations. Educating drivers is imperative for improving road safety.

Recommendation #4: Increase logging transportation visibility. Currently, logging trucks pull massive loads that see logs appearing to hang nearly twenty feet off the back of the trailer.  Visibility at night is dismal. Compare logging transportation regulations with other provinces and identify safe practices.

Recommendation #5: Identify immediate solutions for removing semi trailer loads from parking long term at rest stops. The present situation at some stops is extremely dangerous. Some loads are being parked without adequate visibility warnings, which was a direct cause of a recent accident.

Recommendation #6: Recognize that Highway 63 is dangerous for police officers. The road is often narrow, dark and busy. This situation puts officers and motorists at the side of the road at risk, particularly when two large vehicles are passing simultaneously.

Recommendation #7: Improve centre line visibility. In parts of the road, the centre line is nearly invisible. This situation is dangerous.

“We simply can’t wait for the next series of deaths to occur on this highway,” said Chase. “There are many things we can do while waiting for the highway to be twinned to stop these needless deaths.”

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For telephone interviews on this subject, please contact:

Josh Stewart, Media Liaison
(780) 499-5470

or

Harry Chase, Transportation Critic
(403) 880-0097

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