Edmonton’s Whitemud Drive set for road widening

Drivers in West Edmonton have been dreading this stretch of Whitemud Drive from 215 Street to 231 Street for years.

Some of the drivers CityNews spoke to say an expansion of the narrow stretch of road is long overdue, with their biggest safety concern being there’s little room for error.

“There’s just a big ditch on the one side, so yeah. Don’t want to do that,” said Jillian Ness, who lives in West Edmonton.

Ness says she avoids driving down the road whenever she can, but she’s now hopeful it could become another route in her travels.

The city of Edmonton is paying to make this stretch of the road wider and add new access points for future developments, in a partnership with the Alberta government and Enoch Cree Nation.

The city approved spending $9.3 million in taxpayer funds over two years, which’ll be matched by the province. The city says Enoch First Nation will be chipping in as well, but their funding hasn’t been announced yet.

“We’re taking one dollar and turning it into three,” said Thu Parmer, councillor of Ward sipiwiyiniwak.

Parmer says these upgrades are critical for safety in the growing west end neighbourhoods, as well as communities like Stony Plain and Spruce Grove.

“It’s important that we make sure that the intersection is not only safe, but it’s also being able to move everything, corridors, people, goods, and services freely,” said Parmer.

In a statement to CityNews, Alberta’s Transportation Minister agrees the upgrades are important for safety and Enoch’s development and economy, adding that the final funding agreement is still being hammered out to maximize the benefit for residents and businesses.

But for Ness, she’s eager for work to begin and traffic to ease up.

“I can get to Costco faster, but I think we need to expand all those roads so we can get people through faster,” said Ness.

-With files from Elliott Knopp