Highway 2 expansion through Red Deer wetland prompts conservation concerns
First phase expected to begin in late 2025 and take about a year to complete
The provincial government is expanding Alberta's busiest highway, but some are worried wetlands near Red Deer will be lost to make way for the widened route.
The Highway 2 corridor will be expanded through three phases of construction that will see sections of the route expanded and realigned near the central Alberta city.
In preliminary design documents, ministry planners tout the project as a way to provide a smoother, safer ride through the Red Deer region and ease congestion on a highway that serves millions of drivers each year.
But as the highway shifts and expands, wetlands and forested areas in Red Deer's Maskepetoon Park will be lost to development — raising concern from conservationists and the City of Red Deer.
According to preliminary designs, the highway will cut through the northwest edge of the park, a 30 hectare parcel of land within the Waskasoo Park system along the city's western boundary, just north of the Red Deer River.
Todd Nivens, executive director of Waskasoo Environmental Education Society, said the project could cause unforeseen harm to a fragile habitat within Maskepetoon Park, which is rich in biodiversity.
A 2007 master plan developed for the City of Red Deer described Maskepetoon Park as an "ecologically significant and valuable area containing many unique natural features."
'Extremely reactive'
The wetland, which includes a tamarack fen surrounded by mixed wood forest, serves as an important buffer between the highway to the west, the Red Deer River to the east and south, Nivens said.
"The reality is that wetlands are extremely dynamic environments and they are extremely reactive to changes in their inputs," he said.
''We need to really think about what the impacts are going to be. How do we offset that by providing habitat, with the expectation that this space may not survive this process."
The province has promised to offset the loss of the wetlands through the creation of a new habitat. According to planning documents, a gravel pit from construction would be converted into a new natural area, with ponds and wetlands, when the highway expansion is finished.
An open house in Red Deer on Tuesday was dominated with questions about the wetland.
Greg Sikora, Red Deer's parks and public works manager, was there and said residents are concerned about the loss of a beloved habitat.
The designs remain preliminary but city is working with the province to minimize the damage and determine how Red Deer can be compensated for the harms the highway is likely to cause to one of the city's cherished parks, he said.
Sikora said design features like sound barriers or retaining walls have been considered to provide more protection to the park but such strategies will have a limited effect.
"They're open to taking those courses measures," he said. "But putting a road right through a portion of the park, or through a section of it, that's pretty black and white," he said.
The city is considering what it will take to compensate Red Deerians for the loss.
No replacement will be perfect but city administration is mulling over what exactly they will be asking for in ongoing negotiations, he said.
"It is a very sensitive area, but we also understand that we need to work collaboratively," Sikora said.
"It is a coveted park by all Red Deerians and people who visit the city."
A replacement wetland
Sikora said the province has taken the city's concerns seriously and he understands that the safety upgrades must be done within the confines of map crowded by rail lines, parks, waterways and existing infrastructure.
"They're trying to thread a highway through there," he said. "I'm very much a strong advocate for the park system, but I also understand the the challenge they're faced with."
In a statement to CBC News Thursday, Devin Dreeshen, Alberta's transportation minister, said only areas of the park that were created through the original construction of the highway in the 1960s will be impacted. The design team is working closely with the city to study and minimize the potential impacts, Dreeshen said.
Work to convert the gravel pit, an area upstream of the highway known as known as Burnt Lake, has been ongoing for several years, Dreeshen said.
"It is approximately twice the size of Maskepetoon Park and contains several large ponds with a total area more than three times the size of the manmade ponds being impacted," Dreeshen said.
"Once the construction project is complete, the remaining portion of the gravel pit will be reclaimed, completing the conversion to a natural area."
Construction in three phases
The project will proceed in three phases. The first phase, expected to begin in late 2025 and take about a year to complete, will see the existing Highway 2 overpass over the CN railway line, north of Red Deer, replaced.
A pair of new, three-lane bridges will be constructed, expanding the stretch of highway to a total of six lanes.
During the second phase, the highway between the Highway 11 interchange and the Highway 11A interchange, will be widened from four lanes to six.
Once that work is complete, construction will move further south to a section of the highway that flanks the Red Deer River, and move in on Maskepetoon Park.
Two Red Deer River bridges will be replaced by two, wider structures to the east of the existing bridges. The highway will be realigned with the new bridges, between the 32nd Street and 67th Street interchanges and widened to a total of eight lanes.
The widened highway may also cut across the edge of Heritage Park and impact operations at the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.
The province said the new design will feature gentler curves and slopes for a safer drive through the Red Deer river valley. Only the first phase has been funded to date, with no clear start dates for construction on the rest of the project.
Murray Cunningham, chair of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, said construction will likely cause some challenges for their operation, but they are awaiting more details from the province.
He was among hundreds of people who attended the open house with provincial planners on Tuesday.
"I work in construction and I know that it's always a headache but it's important that the province looks at improvements," Cunningham said.
"It's a busy, important road to Red Deer.
"More and more traffic is coming, whether the road gets widened or not as Edmonton, Calgary, and this region grows."
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