County of Wetaskiwin council is supporting a request by G3 Canada to lower the speed limit on Hwy. #2A for the new grain terminal nearing completion.
Councilors discussed the request at their Oct. 22 Public Works council meeting.
A memo was presented to councilors from County CAO Rod Hawken. The memo stated, “G3 Canada Ltd. is well underway in the development of its grain handling facility located 2 km south of the City of Wetaskiwin.
“As part of the development agreement between G3, the County and Alberta Transportation, upgrades are to be constructed at the intersection of Hwy 2A and Twp Rd 460.
“The original design of the intersection upgrade necessitated the purchase of additional lands to implement a Type 4 intersection treatment which included additional storage ques, bypass lanes, channelized right turn and illumination.
“Unfortunately, the land negotiations between G3 and the two affected landowners were not successful, therefore a revised intersection treatment is being proposed by G3 which is to be approved by Alberta Transportation and the County prior to design and construction.
“As part of the revision and due to restrictions to the existing road right of way, it is necessary to incorporate signalization at the intersection.
“To safely implement traffic signals requires a speed reduction from the current posting of 100 km/hr down to 80 km/hr. The speed reduction will allow for traffic signals to function appropriately for traffic speeds when determining Intersection Sight Distance and Decision Sight Distance.”
Hawken stated G3 is still working on the design and a few locations they were not able to purchase the private land required for the intersection. Hence the company is looking at other options.
Councilor Josh Bishop stated he felt the county should directly notify the City of Wetaskiwin about this change; he stated the recent changes made by the city to Hwy. #13 were made without notice to the county.
Councilors unanimously agreed to support G3 Canada’s request to have the speed limit lowered to accommodate the grain terminal project.