The northeast segment of the Anthony Henday traffic corridor will open to motorists this weekend after four years of construction.
The Anthony Henday runs along St. Albert’s southern border connecting to the city with exits at Ray Gibbon Drive, St. Albert Trail and Campbell Road. The northeast segment opens on Oct. 1 allowing quicker access to communities around the northeast of Edmonton including St. Albert and Sturgeon County.
“From an economic development point of view it, it makes the region smaller,” Mayor Nolan Crouse said.
Crouse said that transportation is no longer a barrier for businesses working out of St. Albert. The Henday expansion has also informed choices made by the city in terms of development.
The next business park developing in St. Albert is off of Ray Gibbon Drive, which is close to the Henday. The business park has easy access to the roadway that makes the area optimal for business development
“The Ray Gibbon Drive connection is very important,” Crouse said. “We chose that area deliberately five years ago knowing that it was going to be developable into the decades ahead.”
Sturgeon County will also see increased business opportunities because of the Henday connection.
Along with improved commerce opportunities, the roadway opens up the region for residents to live anywhere and commute more easily to work.
“People can choose to live in any community in so many ways,” Crouse said. “People coming to the region are going to pick and choose where they want to live in close proximity to jobs.
Crouse said that the city will benefit from the opening of the road by a greater amount of people choosing to live in the city.
Sheila Moore, senior communications officer for Morinville, agreed. She said that residents travelling east for work will have their commute time cut significantly.
The finished Anthony Henday project will be a 27 km divided roadway split into six or eight lanes. It has eight interchanges, nine flyovers, two river structures and 47 bridge structures. The northeast corner is one of five segments that are part of the final product.
Although opening the region seems to have only positive benefits, the drawback is that it could lead to an increase in crime.
Cpl. Laurel Kading of the St. Albert RCMP said that when anything influences the accessibility to a community it can “bring in unpredictable elements.”
“We would predict that we may see increase in accessibility of our community to the negative elements as well,” Kading said.
Police say there could be a small increase in crimes of opportunity.
“Where we can make the biggest impact is working together with the community to reduce the opportunity,” Kading said.
