Tag: Highway 63

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Ft Mac

Highway 63 Traffic May Back Up Due to Wide Load Convoy

highway 63, Fort MacMurray
highway 63, Fort MacMurray

Fort MacMurray residents may want to prepare for possible traffic delays and back ups on highway 63 in the coming days, but this will only be a problem for a few days. There will be a convoy with two wide loads that are headed for a site owned by CNRL which is north of Fort MacMurray. The convoy will have to travel at night and move in stages to minimize disruption to local residents and traffic on highway 63, so the entire process will take a few days. The convoy will take up both lanes of the highway, making it impossible for other traffic to share the road at the same time. In addition the entire convoy must pull over on a periodic basis to ensure that any traffic delays or stops are not excessively long.

Although the latest traffic snarl on highway 63 will inconvenience residents the people in the Fort MacMurray area can take a look on the bright side. The convoy will only affect traffic on highway 63 for a total of 3 days, and it will only be using the road at night. This is intended to minimize any inconvenience to travelers, and protect those in the convoy from having to block both lanes during the times when traffic on highway 63 is the heaviest. Fort MacMurray is the last staging area for the convoy before the two wide loads reach their final destination at the site. Most residents will not even realize that traffic on highway 63 is affected.

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Ft Mac

Fatal Crash on Highway 63 Claims Life of 52 Year Old Man

highway 63, fatal crash
highway 63, fatal crash

A fatal crash on highway 63 has claimed the life of a 52 year old man Monday morning. The crash happened north of Fort MacMurray and only involved a single vehicle. Local police were alerted at 4:29 am that a single vehicle crash occurred close to the Borealis Camp. The vehicle was in a ditch and it had rolled over at least once. So far no witnesses have come forward and police believe that no one saw the fatal crash occur. Right now drugs or alcohol are not suspected to be involved, but it is possible that distracted driving caused the vehicle to leave the roadway and enter the ditch. The 52 year old driver was not wearing a seat belt, and he was still in the vehicle when local police arrived on the scene.

RCMP Cst. George Cameron discussed the fatal crash on highway 63 with journalists. According to Cameron “In something like this, it’s hard to determine the exact cause, especially if there is no witnesses. I’m not saying it’s the case in this specific crash, but could have some sort of distracted driving been involved? It’s possible. We talk all the time about, don’t talk on your cellphone, don’t look down and turn your radio on (and) fatigue certainly is something that’s just as dangerous. The other rollover crashes similar to this that I’ve investigated myself in the past appear to have been something along the lines of, if someone was asleep and they’re distracted and they start to leave the roadway… and they overcorrect, they turn back, a lot of the time that seems to be the cause of that.”

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Uncategorized

Traffic on Highway 63 May be Slowed by Bridge Repair

Fort MacMurray, Highway 63
Fort MacMurray, Highway 63

 

Fort MacMurray residents may find that traffic on Highway 63 is at a slower pace while bridge repairs are underway. For a period of a few days only one lane will be available for traffic to use, and that could mean longer travel times for some. The bridge repair will occur near the La Biche River. Alberta Transportation said that a temporary fix was being performed to the expansion joints of the bridge, because a recent inspection indicated that this joint needed to be replaced. According to Alberta Transportation spokesperson Nancy Beasley-Hosker “It’s part of routine maintenance and it’s why we… keep an eye on things that we think may require further attention in the future. Until we can do the repair, we had to restrict the traffic down to one lane with alternating travel that was controlled by temporary traffic signals.”

Fort MacMurray residents may find that the bridge repairs on Highway 63 are an aggravation if traffic slows too much, but there was nothing else that could be done according to the experts. Nancy Beasley-Hosker continued by saying “Until… (it) is ready for us to re-open the bridge, the traffic will be kept at one lane with alternating traffic. So even though drivers might not see any construction workers on site, we can’t actually reopen the lane until the concrete is cured.” Fort MacMurray resident scan expect slowdowns or even complete stops at times, and this could lead to traffic congestion when traffic is heavier and the single lane is crowded.