Red Deer County will put savings on the Gasoline Alley roundabout project into other roadwork.
When the final bills are in, it is expected that the Leva Avenue roundabout, which opened last Friday, will come in about $1.1 million below its $6.4-million budget, says a report to council. The province contributed about $1 million to that project.
Savings will be pushed into other work to fix seasonal “road boils” on county gravel roads as well as patching work on Range Road 284 and Township Road 382. Other money will go towards the cost of installing traffic lights at Hwy 2 and McKenzie Road, a project expected to cost $670,000 more than the original $600,000 budgeted.
The county also saved some money by cancelling a $440,000 road project on Range Road 284.
Mayor Jim Wood was pleased to see the Leva Avenue project come in under budget and ahead of schedule.
Traffic is already flowing more smoothly in the area, which had become a bottleneck in the increasingly busy Gasoline Alley commercial area.