Our highways could look a lot nicer soon, as the Alberta Government is investing $335 million into maintaining and repairing our roads.

This investment will work on 42 paving projects across the province, being:

  • 11 in Southern Alberta
  • 8 in Central Alberta
  • 9 in North Central/ Fort McMurray region
  • 14 in Peace region

Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen explained improving our roads is great not only for the average driver, but the economy.

"Alberta is actually one of Canada's largest provincial highway networks, with over 64 000 lane kilometres in the province of Alberta, and this vast provincial highway network connects communities and industries and is truly the backbone of our economy," he said.

Making such a large investment now will save time and money in the longterm, as Dreeshen said maintenance is much more efficient than repairs and replacement.

"Rehabilitation of the existing highway network can extend the life of a highway by up to 20 years, and paving and overlay projects also increases the safety and efficiency of our provincial highway network."

Dreeshen added the government is also looking into other technologies to make road maintenance more efficient. For example, this year's projects include testing the use of the Cold In-Place Recycling (CIR) technology, which grinds the existing pavement and remixes it with new materials and replaces it as a new layer of pavement. This eliminates the need to haul away old materials and reduces emissions as materials are remixed without the use of heat.

The $335 million investment is an $80 million increase compared to last year's budget.

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