John Kitsco

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Ft. McMurray is a pretty city. Nestled far in the north as though removed from the rest of the country. About a six hour trip from Edmonton, the road travels through some pretty countryside along the way, going past Gibbons and Boyle, up along towards Grassland and Mariana Lake. It seems easy and straightforward enough. And yet the highway has earned the name death row, because so many accidents and deaths have occurred. It is this highway where many trucks roar through the night (I travelled the highway for many years) and journey to the famous tar sands, the varied plants - many hidden back in the bush. Not unusual to see black bear and moose crossing the highway. And as you get closer to Ft. McMurray it seems a straight stretch with lots of bush on either side. In winter the roadway can be a special challenge. And I have travelled this road at times when the snow was so bad the road was barely visible.

They say its going to take a billion dollars give or take a few dollars to get this highway to Ft. McMurray twinned. And the process has started with a small section just south of the City of Fort Mac already having been twinned. But much more to go. And still the accidents pile up. This weekend the newspaper talks about another two trucks colliding head on. Seven people dead. Forty six people died on this highway between 2005 and 2009, 310 people were injured during that same time. And yet the powers that be are taking much time to get the road properly twinned. Part of the reason perhaps is the changing weather conditions but mostly its a political football, with various divisions of government needing to badly work together to simply do it, get it done, before we see more death, more injury...when in fact there is room for improvement.

In the meantime drivers need to excercise more caution, take it perhaps a little slower and no doubt there will be more policing and more tickets given out to try to curb the speeding. But most of all
the highway that connects the tar sands with the rest of the world needs to be made wider and safer and that is all there is to it....