Article content continued

Mason delivered the news after announcing the alternative $90 million Vinca Bridge to energy industry executives and regional mayors.

It will serve overweight traffic travelling from the manufacturing shops of south Edmonton and Nisku to the oilsands of Fort McMurray, cutting out the nearly 200-km detour trucks currently take to the Duvernay Bridge near Two Hills.

Other upgrades ease congestion

Mason said this new bridge means heavy-haul capacity is no longer needed in northeast Edmonton.

The northeast bridge was also supposed to ease congestion for commuters to Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, but the previously announced $200-million to $300-million effort to twin the Fort Saskatchewan crossing of the North Saskatchewan River at Highway 15 is a better solution there, the province said.

It should be under construction starting in 2019 and includes other highway improvements in the area.

This change in direction comes in the middle of a $1.4-million joint planning study for the northeast Edmonton bridge. Officials were at least trying to pin down the location to provide certainty for concerned residents because if it missed Riverbend Gardens in the Horse Hill area, it would have taken out other farms and acreages.

Alberta Transportation, Edmonton, Fort Saskatchewan, Strathcona County and Sturgeon County were all involved.

Accomplishes everything needed

Mason said he sent a letter to the mayors of each municipality Friday to give them the news.

Ward 4 Coun. Aaron Paquette said many residents will be relieved. At each open house, they worried about impacts to the ecology of the river system, traditional use of that area by First Nations communities and the decrease in property values caused simply by uncertainty.

The new Vinca Bridge “accomplishes everything we needed,” he said.

Paquette said he intends to make a motion early next week to have Edmonton contact its partners and cancel the rest of the joint-planning exercise.

estolte@postmedia.com

twitter.com/estolte

New shortcut for heavy haul loads