Terwillegar Drive Expansion at risk in budget deliberations: councillor
A south Edmonton councillor says the ongoing Terwillegar Drive Expansion is at risk as local politicians look for ways to save money during tight budget deliberations.
In a blog post on Thursday, Ward pihêsiwin Coun. Tim Cartmell wrote "it has been suggested by some of my Council colleagues that the Terwillegar Drive project be reduced in scope or halted."
The project was approved in 2019 and construction started last year.
"To stop now, it just doesn’t make sense," resident Dave Rumbold told CTV News on Friday. "The areas where the construction has happened has made a big difference. The bottlenecks have been moving down to where the construction is continuing."
Terwillegar Drive is being converted into an expressway in three phases, with Phase 1 including wider roads, improved intersections, bus lanes and a shared-use path.
In his blog post, Cartmell said "some Councillors have suggested that improvements to the ramps that connect Whitemud to Terwillegar should be eliminated."
Cartmell says the current ramp is "profoundly unsafe" and called on "ticked off" residents to write to other councillors to keep the project in the budget.
Roughly $40 million is needed for the next phase, about $4 million a year on a $3.4 billion budget, according to Cartmell.
The next phase is slated to cost $142 million, according to Building Edmonton.
"If you’re contemplating spending more time to save money that will only be consumed by inflation while you take the time to redesign, I think that’s penny-wise and pound-foolish," Cartmell told CTV News on Friday.
"I don’t want to talk about 2019 anymore. I want to talk about 2023. I want to get to talking about pragmatic climate change, I want to talk about building better transportation transit and roadway networks."
The Terwillegar Drive Expansion was not discussed during the three-day public budget hearings earlier this week, and there are no official proposals to change plans yet.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
New one-and-done therapy can help curb severe COVID-19 infection: Canadian-led study
A Canadian-led study of a new potential antiviral therapy shows a single dose can help cut the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19.

Are video games good for kids' brains or bad for them? New research suggests the answer is 'neither'
A small new study has found that neither the frequency of daily gaming reported by pre-teen children nor the specific video game genres they chose to play were linked with their performance on a standardized cognitive tests.
Canada deploys military assessment team to Turkiye after earthquake
Canada deployed a disaster assessment team to Turkey on Wednesday in the wake of a devastating earthquake that's killed thousands, as the federal government faced criticism that the window to help with rescue efforts was closing.
'It was a nightmare': 2 children dead, driver charged after city bus crashes into Laval daycare
Two four-year-old children are dead and a man has been charged with first-degree murder after a driver crashed a city bus into a daycare in Laval, Que. Wednesday morning. The driver, 51-year-old Pierre Ny St-Amand, was arrested at the scene and faces two counts of first-degree murder and several other charges.
Alphabet shares dive after Google AI chatbot Bard flubs answer in ad
Alphabet Inc. lost US$100 billion in market value on Wednesday after its new chatbot shared inaccurate information in a promotional video and a company event failed to dazzle, feeding worries that the Google parent is losing ground to rival Microsoft.
opinion | Before you do your taxes, take note of these tax credits and deductions you may not have known about
Many Canadians are experiencing strains caused by the increased cost of living and inflation. In his exclusive column for CTVNews.ca, contributor Christopher Liew shares some of the top credits and deductions that you may be able to claim on your income tax return to help you save money.
Indigo payment systems, online store down after 'cybersecurity incident'
Indigo's payment systems and online store are down after a 'cybersecurity incident,' the company announced on Wednesday evening.
Netflix Canada begins password sharing crackdown
Netflix Canada is rolling out its long-anticipated plans to crack down on password sharing, saying it will begin notifying Canadian users today by email about limitations.
Tyre Nichols documents: Officer never explained stop to him
The officer who pulled Tyre Nichols from his car before police fatally beat him never explained why he was being stopped, newly released documents show, and emerging reports from Memphis residents suggest that was common.