Traffic relief could be coming to some west Edmonton neighbourhoods. City councillor and mayoral hopeful Andrew Knack has a plan to double the number of lanes for a number of high-traffic, high-congestion arterial roads. That includes neighbourhoods along Winterburn Road/215 Street, which has several single-lane arterial roads that have become busier as the population has grown. A motion from Knack, whose Ward Nakota Isga includes the area around the two-lane road, is expected to be heard during public hearings Thursday and Friday. His plan would re-allocate already earmarked dollars for different west end roads to add lanes to three sections designated as particularly troublesome: “(It’s) a legitimate, real issue that is being faced by folks who live outside of Anthony Henday Drive,” Knack said Thursday. “How do you say no to something like that? I’m quite hopeful that this will be advanced.” Vik Mahajan, the chief executive officer of the River Cree Resort & Casino that sits southwest of the intersection of Winterburn Road and Whitemud Drive, says casino owner Enoch Cree Nation supports the proposed upgrade. “Anybody who drives to the west end can feel it,” Mahajan told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday. “You can feel the unbearable traffic. The road definitely needs to be widened.” Several of the roads border Enoch land, and Mahajan says the extra lanes will ease traffic to and from the First Nation and the casino. He says Enoch leadership would offer to pay for a third of the cost of the Whitemud expansion. Mahajan says the improvement will benefit anyone who finds themselves in the west end. “No one wants to be sitting in their car the majority of the day or a certain portion of the day, so it just gives better access to the city to the residents of the city to use some of those facilities that we are building.”
