Anthony Henday expansion to be confirmed at Tuesday news conference

Alberta Transportation Minister Brian Mason is expected to announce the widening of the southwest leg of the Anthony Henday at an 11 a.m. news conference on Tuesday.

Provincial officials expected to meet traffic capacity in 2020 but, with the growth of Windermere and other booming neighbourhoods, they hit capacity 10 years ago.

READ MORE: Alberta government ‘looking at’ widening Anthony Henday Drive in southwest Edmonton

Bill Van der Meer, project manager of the Edmonton ring road, confirmed in September that consultants were working on a plan for the project. Money was announced in the spring budget.

“We’ve heard this was coming,” Mayor Don Iveson said on Monday.

“We’ve been working closely with the government,” he said after the province released an advisory to the news media without an embargo.

“Completing the Henday has made a huge difference to goods movement and commuters in the region but as with all freeways, they tend to become their own worst enemy and attract a lot more traffic.

“That’s certainly the case in the southwest where expansion is required.”

READ MORE: No decision yet on southwest Anthony Henday but it’s getting closer

The councillor for the area, Ward 9’s Tim Cartmell, said developments like Windermere have grown because of the Henday and vice versa.

“There is certainly something to, particularly with roads, the more capacity you build, the more volume you attract.”

The most recent traffic count available from September had 79,000 vehicles using that portion of the Henday on a daily basis. Projections called for average daily vehicle counts of 40,000 by 2020; a number that was already surpassed in 2009.

READ MORE: ‘It’s getting close to full’: Southwest leg of Anthony Henday Drive reaching capacity

“We cannot abandon people to congestion,” Cartmell said. “Until there is viable alternatives to hopping in your car, we are, to some degree, stuck with this mode of transportation until we can replace it with something else.”

Senior planner for the city, Peter Ohm, said they’ve got to plan for what comes next after the annexation of Leduc County is ratified.

“We’ll get a decision on that fairly soon, I would expect. Then we’ve got to go to the next level and continue the planning, recognizing whatever comes out of south of 41 Avenue is likely going to go north through Riverbend and Terwillegar.”

“It’s that additional traffic that we’ve got to plan for, as well as the servicing.”

Once the planning work that began last fall is complete, and tenders are done, work is expected to begin next spring.