runways
a truck stop for long-haul transport trucks, are planned to open near where Highways 1 and 3 enter Medicine Hat.
"We need to become a logistics centre,” said Medicine Hat City Councillor Les Pearson. “We are already to a large degree a distribution point for southeast Alberta and southwest Saskatchewan."
For Pearson, a high-level transport discussion also leads into question of rail safety and access — many feel a container-loading facility would be a boon to manufacturing in the city and region. Container loading means lower costs for raw material and finished goods arriving in the city, as well as lower costs for exporters.
a cont iner manufac
me ns lower co he c
The City of Medicine Hat is considering making such a facility the keystone in a economic development drive, but such an effort would require new cooperation from railway companies.
of Me
facilit comp
Likikewise, the Wildhorse border access appears stalled at upper levels of government — border crossings are under federal jurisdiction and the highways that serve them a state or provincial responsibility.
us fa ewis
hat w he W
Airport expansion is moving forward, however. A $5-million ren
inc ns
A $5-million renovation is underway at the Medicine Hat ls of g jur ys t w Thus far, that work is at a stalemate.
Regional Airport, doubling the space at the 30-year-old facility and adding new commercial space and enough space for a second airline to service the area.
Accompanying the expansion has been a targetted effort to woo WestJet’s new regional carrier Encore.
The pace, however, has been slowed by the delivery of Bombardier Q400 aircraft, and with limited planes available, so far mostly routes between major centres have been opened up.
At the same time as Hatters are considering transportation with new interest as an economic driver, Albertans are being asked for "big ideas" to help develop a 50-year plan for the province’s Transportation Ministry.
The exercise isn’t so much a detailed construction plan as a series of statements about how policy should be directed.
Don’t expect to hear about individual on-ramps when the provincial government releases the plan later this year, but local policy makers say it’s important to get the issues front and centre at the policy development stage.
"I would think that they will hear some clear messages that they've heard before," said Walter Valentini, executive director of the Palliser Economic Partnership, "But we haven't been idle on these issues and we won't be idle on this."
Palliser Economic Partnership chairman Alan Hyland submitted a position paper authored by the regional economic development agency calling for a short-line rail strategy and a high-load trucking designation for the Trans- Canada Highway between Medicine Hat and Brooks. It also laid out the case for a 24-hour border crossing at Wildhorse to alleviate congestion at Coutts and a number of specific highway upgrades in the region.
“Alberta’s transportation system must serve rural areas and not be weighted predominantly in favour of metro areas,” the statement read.
That sentiment is the driving sentiment behind the Eastern Alberta Trade Corridor, a grouping of economic development agencies, town, cities and counties along the Alberta-Saskatchewan Boundary.
With an expansive Crown land base, history in energy development and relatively lower-cost operations, the area north of Medicine Hat could act as smart alternative transport route and economic base compared to the congested north-south corridor along Highway No. 2 from Calgary to Edmonton.
"Businesses shouldn't be at a disadvantage simply because it's not located in the (transportation corridor) in the west of the province," said Valentini. ■
31
and
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112