The Highway 1A/22 interchange – the much sought after, much talked about traffic project designed to relieve Cochrane’s most congested intersection – is still sought after and continues to be talked about.
With no indication the province will put the project back on its priority list, and new MLA in town, along with a new government – both NDP to boot – what will that mean for the project?
Cochrane mayor Ivan Brooker told the Eagle that although they discussed projects such as the interchange when he called the freshly elected Cameron Westhead the day after his victory, Brooker is waiting for the dust to settle to move forward on more concrete discussions about infrastructure plans. Other plans, such as twinning the bridge across the Bow River on Highway 22, are also within Westhead’s realm of influence as MLA.
“I said at some point in time, when he got a little more comfortable in his position, we should get together because we have some major priorities that we’ve been working on,” Brooker said.
“He doesn’t even know where he’s going to have an office. He doesn’t even have an email for his new position. So he is very overwhelmed at this point. It’s just a matter of getting my foot in the door.”
According to Brooker, Westhead understands the importance of the project.
“He’s travelled through there, he understands that it’s obviously a problem and it’s our biggest concern from a municipal standpoint.”
But the mayor emphasized the need to bring Westhead up to speed, since his position as MLA is an entirely new challenge for him.
“In all fairness to him, we have to make sure that he knows what we’re proposing so that when he is brought into the conversation he has a good understanding of what we’ve done.”
Brooker contends that the biggest challenge in dealing with the new government is making sure they understand how important some of these issues are for Cochrane.
“All the different things on the table, the biggest challenge will be bringing all of these people up-to-speed on where we’re at and things we have in the works.”
When asked about how he would continue to push for the project to remain a priority, Brooker responded saying, “All this stuff is basically about relationships. I had a good relationship with (former MLA) Ron Casey and I had three really good meetings with the past minister of transportation, so quite honestly I was feeling fairly confident that we were getting some good resolution and some good movement on those issues.
“It’s a matter of requesting meetings,” Brooker said. “Rebuilding what we had; making sure that we express to the best of our ability what our issues are.”
As the project currently stands, the design awaits official review from the province.
If the design were approved, it would be sent to the yet-undeclared minister of transportation. There the plan would compete with other proposals for priority status.
Brooker was given no official timeframe for when the project might be approved by the province.
“There’s going to be a lot of people out there probably doing what we’re doing and express the importance of theirs.”
With heavy traffic volumes on Highway 1A and 22, coupled with high growth in area communities, the mayor agreed that the project needs to remain a priority. Nonetheless, he argued that penalizing or impeding community development as a way to deal with traffic issues while the interchange is still being finalized isn’t the way to go.
“To say to Cochrane, ‘You’ve got to stop growing’ just isn’t fair. We’re growing a little quicker than is sustainable in the long run, but we still need to have consistent growth, so if it’s four, five, six per cent, we’re going to need some of those communities to continue to move ahead.”
He also dismissed the suggestion that attaining city status as an alternate plan to complete the project, arguing Cochrane would then have to pay for its construction instead of the province footing the bill.
