Federal dollars pledged for Alaska Highway renovations

The federal government is givingup to$13.2 million to the Yukon government so it can renovate parts of the Alaska Highway andmake it safer.

Some turnoffs on the highway have seen recurring problems. The intersection of the Alaska Highway and Range Road saw14 crashes from 2010 to 2016, according tostatistics from Yukon's Department of Highways and Public Works.

In January, a little further down the road,Whitehorse resident Megan Breen's vehicle was rear-ended and pushed in front of a transport truck while waiting to turn off of the Alaska Highway.

The new federal contribution, announced Friday, promisesto help reroute certain roadsand reduce the number of turnoffs on the Alaska Highwaybetween Robert Service Way and Two Mile Hill Road.

Some smaller intersections and turnoffs will be permanently closed andreplaced bya larger hub with a traffic light near the airport.

'I always shudder': MP

The intersection at Sumanik Drive will be closed permanently, and Range Road will be extended to direct traffic towarda new intersection with a traffic light.

The territorial government will be doing further consultations aboutworkto access theHillcrestneighbourhood.

Yukon MP Larry Bagnellsaid the changes will make the highwaysafer.

"I always shudderwhen you have to turn off when there's not a turning lane. And so I'm very excited any time that the highway is upgraded to make such safety improvements," Bagnell said.

The Yukon government said the worknearSumanikDrive will happen in July.

New Whitehorse operations building

Thiscomes as Whitehorseprepares a new main operations building for city staff,bus services and its fleet of vehiclesnear the site.

Yukon Highways and Public Works Minister Richard Mostyn said the building will likely mean several hundred more vehicles entering and leaving the highway every day.

Mostyn said the new operations building was "absolutely" a factor in the territorial and federal governments' spending to extend Range Road and extendSumanik Drive and to begin work there.

"There's a lot happening in this stretch of highway. There's the new city building, we're getting commercial development along the highway. There's talk of a quarry so it's really a dangerous, very constricted, heavily trafficked region,"Mostyn said.

A press conference held in Whitehorse Friday featured federal Minister of Rural Economic Development Bernadette Jordan who is in Whitehorse to consult with various groups.

The federal funding and announcement of specific construction timelinescomes after Yukon's Liberal governmentwent back to the drawing board on a series of modifications proposed for the Alaska Highway,which had been put in motion by the previousYukon Partygovernment.

The project was open to public comments under the Yukon Environmental and Socio-EconomicReview Board until March 7.