Redford says she wants to speed up twinning of highway 63

EDMONTON - Alberta Premier Alison Redford says the province needs to act faster on twinning Highway 63.

Last Friday, seven people were killed in a head-on crash on the busy two-lane highway, which is the only way in and out of Fort McMurray.

Redford told reporters Wednesday that she was saddened about what happened.

She says in the current capital plan, it was always planned to have at least 50 per cent of the highway twinned within three years.

"We need to act faster on that," she says, though, "and I will ask our Transportation Minister after our Cabinet is sworn in to make that a priority."

"Highway 63 is a unique road in this province. It is busy and there are safety issues on the road. Of course we know there are challenges with respect to construction."

Some of those challenges include the fact that part of the land is a protected caribou zone, and much of it needs to be cleared since it lies in thick bush. According to Deputy Premier Doug Horner, about 100 of the 250 kilometres has already been cleared.

On Monday, Horner said those are some of the reasons only 30-40 kilometres of the highway can be twinned each year.

"We're going as quickly as we can keeping in mind the safety, the environmental impacts, the pipeline crossings. It's not the same as building a highway out to Spruce Grove," he said.

But by Wednesday, it seemed as though the government's tune had changed, with Redford saying she has asked the transportation department to take a look at what an accelerated schedule would look like.

"I think it's a priority to move ahead with that," she says.

Between 2001 and 2005, more than 1,000 crashes have claimed the lives of 25 people and injured 257 others on the stretch of road.

In 2006, after years of public pressure the Alberta government announced that it would twin the highway. As of 2006, only 33 kilometres had been twinned, though. Another 36 kilometers are scheduled to be finished this year. But, so far, there has been no long-term goal to finish what the province has said is a billion-dollar project.

With files from Vassy Kapelos, Global News