The frost heaves on the west-bound lane of Highway 11 between Red Deer and Sylvan Lake are being repaired.
The work is intended to be a permanent fix for the reoccurring problem, says Blair Phelps, communications director with the government of Alberta.
He describes the work done on the same one-kilometre stretch in 2019 as “minor in comparison” to the work being undertaken now.
“That work involved trenching the areas that were heaving the most and reconstructing those select areas. This prior work was intended only to improve highway smoothness…” Phelps said in an email.
Crews are working to completely excavate the existing pavement and granular base structure and will reconstruct the area “road subgrade with new fill material and insulation.”
“Rebuilding the road will involve adding 88 truckloads of insulation,” the province states.
The frost heaves are created when water from Cygnet Lake filters under the highway on the north side, and freezes.
Rebuilding the roadway with a new gravel structure and insulation will prevent the formation of frost heaves, according to Phelps.
Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA Devin Dreeshen says fixing the frost heaves is “long overdue.”
“This repair work will make our roads safer and is part of the major engineering work underway to redesign the intersections into Sylvan Lake,” Dreeshen said in a release.
The repairs are not part of Alberta’s Recovery Plan, but contribute to upgrading infrastructure across the province and support roughly 24 jobs, according to Phelps.
Aecon Transportation West was contracted by the province to complete the work, as well as additional repairs and paving on highways 54, 2, 27 and 590.
This project is expected to take six weeks, depending on weather.