The intersection of Highway 9 and Highway 21 has claimed the lives of many motorists, most recently the life of  corrections officer Michael Gaucher, who was travelling from Airdrie for work at the Drumheller Institution on July 14.
    Construction to this intersection and Highway 9, which wrapped up early last fall, was intended to improve safety for motorists travelling that particular stretch of roadway.
    “Alberta Transportation has no plans for other upgrades at this location at this time, as we fully expect the recent construction to provide a safe intersection for many years to come,” said Tony Chelick, operations manager for Alberta Transportation in the Hanna office.
    However, Bob Boyd, who lives right by the roadway, said  the upgrades were made to the intersection, still are not enough.
    “Since revamping the highway it has helped a bit, but it’s still not stopping accidents,” said Boyd.
    In the 18 years that Boyd has been living there, he said he has witnessed way too many deaths and accidents to even count, and has almost been hit at the intersection himself.
    “I can hear just about everything from the intersection when I’m outside at my place. Whenever I hear the squeal from someone slamming on their brakes, I cringe,” said Boyd.
    Chelick said the new channelized intersection provides dedicated right turns for each direction, allowing vehicles to move quickly and safely through. He said they improved sightlines for drivers and reduced the crossing distance for vehicles waiting to cross or turn left on to Highway 9.
    “In my opinion there should be an overpass. I’ve talked to government officials on the matter and they feel it’s not a priority. I’m not sure what the cost of a life is, but I feel it’s more than an overpass would be,” said Boyd.
    Deputy Chief of Rockyford Fire Department, Kevin Elder said the problem lies with people not paying attention.
    “It’s not the intersection itself causing the problem, it’s when people don’t pay attention that accidents happen. Since they made improvements to the intersection, I feel it’s been ten times better than before, but again it’s inattention of drivers causing the problems,” said Elder.
    Chelick said Alberta Transportation will be closely monitoring the intersection to determine how successful the improvements are in reducing collisions over the next few years.

    Starland County is ready to show its new offices at its grand opening.
    The County has completed a major renovation of the facility and has slated its grand opening for Thursday, August 2. This is not the only event they are celebrating. The celebration  marks the 40th anniversary of the Big County Gas Co-op, which shares the facility; this coincides with the Year of the Cooperative. They are also marking 10 years of Starland operating an ATB agency.
    The renovations began early in 2011 to the administration office, which was of 1970’s vintage. The goal was to expand its space, increase its efficiency and to make the building more accessible.
    It has achieved its goals on all fronts. The building’s entrance is now at ground level, the council chamber is expanded and also set up as a hub in case of a disaster, with banks of data and telephone ports. The building easily houses many of its services including FCSS, agriculture services and bylaw enforcement.  The construction also planned for long-term growth.
    “The space was designed so that in the longer term some of these spaces could be converted to additional office space,” said Starland CAO Ross Rawlusyk. “When we were planning the building we worked with the staff to identify what the future staffing requirements might be 20 years down the road and that is what we designed the space for.”
    And while they have almost doubled its size, it has become more efficient.
    “One of our goals going in was that at the end of the day the expanded building would use less energy than the building did before,” said Rawlusyk. “We do know we have done that. We are a couple hundred dollars a month under what we were before.”
    “We definitely met our objective of not having a bigger footprint at the end of the day.”
    Part of achieving this efficiency is not only from upgrading insulation and fixtures, but also from the second largest building mount solar project in the province. The new office has highly efficient solar array that provide upwards of 15 kilowatts.
    The project was funding through the province’s Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) and the federal Gas Tax Program. Rawlusyk said the County had very fortunate timing for the project, which helped the bottom line. The initial budget was for roughly $1.9 million, Reed Atwood Builders of Calgary came in with a bid of about $1.3 million.
    “We were able to keep the old part of the building too, so we were able to maximize what we had and add to it…and make it all new,” said Rawlusyk. “We tendered this right at low point of the economy, so the prices came in a lot lower than the architect estimated.”
    He said because of this the county was able to reallocate some of its MSI funding to other needs.
    The grand opening is on Thursday, August 2 with lunch served at the Morrin Community Hall and a short program at 2 p.m. Plaques will be unveiled to acknowledge the funding assistance provided by both levels of government. Guided tours of the facility will also be offered.