Strathcona County Residents to Benefit from Improved Roads
Strathcona County, Alberta, March 27, 2013 – Strathcona County is benefitting from improvements to local roads, thanks to Government of Canada funding through the Gas Tax Fund.
"Investments in Canada's public infrastructure create jobs, economic growth and provide a high quality of life for families in every city and community across the country,"
said the Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Public Works and Government Services. "With the new Building Canada Plan, our Government is delivering the largest investment in job-creating infrastructure in Canadian history. The improvements to local roads that we are announcing today will have a significant economic impact here in Strathcona County."
Strathcona County will see work done on four major roadways, including 34 Street from Baseline Road to Sherwood Park Freeway, 17 Street from North of Baseline Road to Highway 16, Wye Road from East of Sherwood Drive to West of Ordze Road, and Sherwood Drive from Village Drive to Ash Street. This road work will support the growing needs of the county, making travelling safer, easier and more efficient for families and residents. These upgrades will mean that our kids can travel safely to their schools, workers can arrive on time to their jobs, and even emergency personnel can reach the appropriate health services – quickly and efficiently.
"The Alberta Government is pleased to assist Strathcona County, through the Basic Municipal Transportation Grant, in extending the life of important transportation infrastructure,"
said Alberta Transportation Minister Ric McIver. "Our commitment to projects like these is part of our ongoing support for municipal priorities that benefit all Albertans."
Roadwork will consist of paving, road base repairs, and concrete repairs. These upgrades will help maintain the quality and safety of Strathcona County's roads, while delivering a boost to the local economy. Work on the $4 million project is set to begin in May 2013 and is scheduled for completion by September 30, 2013.
The Basic Municipal Transportation Grant is a provincial funding program through Alberta Transportation which provides annual allocation based financial assistance to municipalities for the development and implementation of a safe, effective and integrated roadway network within their jurisdiction. During this time of optimizing our dollars, Alberta will work to improve market access and support the economy by focusing our efforts on the core transportation network and protecting government's investment. The Alberta Government remains committed to providing support to municipalities and partnering with them to create jobs and strong communities.
The Gas Tax Fund provides long-term funding to help every municipality across the country build and revitalize public infrastructure. The Government of Canada has invested over $10 billion to date in municipal infrastructure through this Fund alone, which is now a permanent transfer of $2 billion per year. Between 2010 and 2014, Strathcona County will receive a total of $19.6 million from the Gas Tax Fund to improve local infrastructure.
"As Alberta's third largest municipality, the management and maintenance of over 1,700 km of rural and urban roadways plays an important role in our residents' safety and quality of life,"
says Strathcona County Mayor Linda Osinchuk. "We are most appreciative of the federal and provincial funding support that allows us to make improvements to these highly traveled roads in our growing community."
Strathcona County will be using $1.1 million of its federal Gas Tax Fund transfers towards these projects. The Alberta Government is providing $2.1 million under the Basic Municipal Transportation Grant. The total cost for the road improvements is over $4 million.
Canada's Economic Action Plan 2013 is delivering a new Building Canada Plan to build roads, bridges, subways, commuter rail, and other public infrastructure in cooperation with provinces, territories, and municipalities. Thanks to the Government of Canada's leadership and our strong economic and financial fundamentals, the Canadian economy has recovered from the global recession better than most other industrialized countries. Canada has been a leader among G-7 countries throughout the recovery with more than 950,000 net new jobs created since July 2009. The new Building Canada Plan, combined with other federal infrastructure investments, supports Canada's infrastructure advantage, a key enabler of economic growth and job creation.
For additional information about federal investments in infrastructure and to stay up-to-date with Web feeds, visit Infrastructure Canada.
Contacts:
Geneviève Sicard
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure, Communities, Minister of the Canada Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
613-991-0700
Parker Hogan
Press Secretary
Alberta Transportation, Office of the Minister
780-643-9134
780-914-2869 cell
parker.hogan@gov.ab.ca
Linda Osinchuk
Mayor, Strathcona County
780-464-8000
Infrastructure Canada
613-960-9251
Toll free: 1-877-250-7154
Backgrounder
New Building Canada Plan 2013
Investments in Canada's public infrastructure create jobs, economic growth and provide a high quality of life for families in every city and community across the country.
Since 2006, our Government has made unprecedented investments in over 43,000 projects to build roads, bridges, commuter rail and other important public infrastructure.
As a result of our investments, we have brought the average age of Canada's core public infrastructure down from a peak of 17 years in 2001 to an estimated 14.4 years in 2011. It is now lower than the historical average over the last 50 years.
Economic Action Plan 2013 builds on our investments and announces a new Building Canada plan – the largest investment in job-creating infrastructure in Canadian history.
The new Building Canada plan has three main components:
- Community Improvement Fund - $32.2 billion consisting of an indexed Gas Tax Fund and the increased GSTRebate for Municipalities to build roads, public transit, recreational facilities and other community infrastructure across Canada that will improve the quality of life of Canadian families.
- New Building Canada Fund - $14 billion to support infrastructure projects of national, regional and local significance.
- Renewed P3 Canada Fund - $1.25 billion to continue finding innovative ways to build infrastructure projects faster and provide better value for Canadian taxpayers through public-private partnerships.
In addition, $6 billion in federal support will be provided to provinces, territories and municipalities under current infrastructure programs in 2014-15 and beyond.
Over the next 10 years, the Government will also make significant investments in First Nations infrastructure and in federal assets.
- Approximately $7 billion over 10 years in First Nations infrastructure such as roads, bridges, energy systems and other First Nations infrastructure priorities.
- Over $10 billion in investments in federal infrastructure assets, including bridges, fishing harbours, ports, military bases and departmental accommodations across the country.
Overall, the new Building Canada plan, combined with other federal infrastructure investments will result in $70 billion in federal infrastructure funding over 10 years, the largest federal investment in job-creating infrastructure in Canadian history.
The Government of Canada delivers for the Edmonton Capital Region
Since 2006, the Government of Canada has invested over $933 million in infrastructure funding for the Edmonton Capital Region. Here are some examples:
- Capital Region River Valley Park – Connectivity Phase ($30M)
- South Light Rail Transit Platform Extension to 5-Car Length ($5M)
- Go Community Centre ($14.8M)
- Edmonton North Light Rail Transit Expansion ($100M)
- Edmonton Northlands Agricom Exhibition Facility Expansion ($25M)
- Anthony Henday Drive and Stony Plain Road Interchange Project ($45.28M)
- Anthony Henday Drive and Cameron Heights Drive Interchange ($12.4M)
- Callingwood Road Interchange and Lessard Road Interchange on Anthony Henday Drive ($20.6M)
- Royal Alberta Museum ($92.5M)
- North East Light Rail Transit Signal System Upgrade ($9.93M)
- Thickwood Boulevard Interchange and Confederation Way Interchange on Highway 63 ($40M)
- Widening Highway 63 from Morrison Street to the Athabasca River Bridge ($8.5M)
- Edmonton Transit – Eaux Claires Transit Centre Park and Ride ($4M)
- St. Albert NorthWest Anthony Henday Connector Roads ($3M)
- Strathcona County Highway 14 - Passing Lanes Construction ($402,500)
- Edmonton's Light Rail Transit (LRT) (up to $250M)
- North Saskatchewan Bridge part of the Northeast Anthony Henday Ring Road project (up to $36.8M)
All told, the Government of Canada has made unprecedented infrastructure investments across the country since 2006. Economic Action Plan 2013 builds on these investments and announces a new Building Canada plan – the largest investment in job-creating infrastructure in Canadian history.
