Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley says a second highway out of Fort McMurray would be built if her government is re-elected on April 16.

"We know Fort McMurray needs a second route out, and we will get it done," Notley said at a news conference Wednesday at Shell Place recreation centre in downtown Fort McMurray.

"It won't solve all the problems that the fire raised," she said, referring to the May 2016 wildfire that forced more than 90,000 residents from their homes.

"But it will solve a problem. And it will help families sleep a little better at night."

Highway 63 is the only route out of the northern Alberta city.

The lack of highway access became a public safety issue during the 2016 wildfires when panicked residents fled as fires encroached on the city.

The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes the city of Fort McMurray, has endorsed the $1.5-billion East Clearwater Highway project as the preferred option. The route would go east of the city and would eventually connect with Highway 63.

The ring road would connect northern communities such as Fort McKay, oilsands sites and Fort McMurray itself to Highway 881, offering a second escape route if Highway 63 was ever blocked, as it was during the May 2016 wildfire.

Notley said she plans to look at the proposal and other options as part of a consultation process that would include Indigenous people, municipalities, industry and other residents.

In May 2017, a year after the fire, the government committed $5 million to initial design and planning.

Notley also announced a plan to add 3,500 kilometres to the Alberta High Load Corridor, bringing the total to 10,000. The six-year expansion project would cost $1.35 billion. It would address gaps, Notley said, that currently force industry to make detours that can add as much as 200 kilometres to a trip, and cost an extra $10,000.

The high load corridor has reinforced roads and bridges that can handle heavy loads such as the 800-tonne propylene-propane splitter that was transported from Edmonton to the Inter Pipeline site in Fort Saskatchewan in January.