Hazardous hill on secondary Alberta highway a point of concern for young family, neighbours

Drivers who use Alberta's Highway 633 northwest of Edmonton say muddy, icy, or washed out road conditions are a safety hazard. Nahreman Issa reports.

A rollercoaster of a road near the town of Onoway is raising concerns from residents who say they brace themselves a little bit each time they have to drive it.

For Taylor Kessir, who lives nearby with her young and growing family, to call the unpaved stretch of Highway 633 a “hill” is a bit of an understatement.

CTV News Edmonton reporters found the drive down to be a steep drop, with wet spring weather making a mess of the soft terrain.

“The road is very rutty, very muddy. You have zero control of your vehicle,” Kessir said in an interview Thursday.

Last spring, Kessir learned that firsthand when she lost control of her car at the top of the hill after rain and hit the ditch. Her 17-day-old newborn was in the vehicle with her, as well as her two-and three-year-olds.

“Anytime it rains or there’s melting or even icy road conditions, anytime I have to drive anywhere, take my son to preschool or go get groceries, I’m having to worry about their safety, unfortunately,” she said.

Visibility is also nonexistent as cars trekking up and down the hill must stay in the middle to avoid hitting the ditch like Kessir.

“There’ve been collisions. A bunch of kids rolled their Mustang over. It almost killed them,” said Kessir’s neighbour Rick Solomon, who’s lived in the area for 27 years. He said the hill was actually 20 feet higher when he first moved there.

The road, which is still classified as a highway, is maintained by construction company Ledcor. Both Kessir and Solomon have written their MLA as well as the company with urgent requests to pave or reduce the hill.

The constituency manager for Shane Getson, the Lac Ste Anne-Parkland MLA, got back to Kessir on Thursday to say a highway maintenance contractor foreman was at the road assessing its condition. A grader was due to go over the hill by Friday.

A department spokesperson with Alberta’s transportation ministry said the province was aware of the conditions on Highway 633 near Onoway and would continue to assess and respond to conditions as they evolve.

“Recent observations indicate that some soft spots and rutting are present in sections of the highway due to seasonal thaw conditions. These conditions are typical this time of year as frost comes out of the ground and can temporarily impact driving surfaces,” read an emailed statement.

In a statement to CTV News Edmonton on Friday, Ledcor said, “This section of Highway 633 experiences seasonal challenges during spring thaw and winter conditions, particularly given the grade of the road.

“As part of our maintenance work on behalf of Alberta Transportation, crews were on site April 7 to grade and improve the surface. Further grading is planned for April 10, weather permitting, to continue improving this section as it dries.”

Solomon said past crews have come to grade the road and add gravel, but Kessir called the solutions a “temporary bandage fix” that doesn’t hold up over time.

Kessir hopes the safety of the road can be addressed before her kids hit school ages.

“I highly doubt that there’s going to be any chance that the school bus is going to be able to safely make it up the hill,” she said.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nahreman Issa