Fatal crashes east of Calgary prompts resident to fight province for more safety protocols

With another fatal crash on a highway east of Calgary, one resident is fighting with the province to add more safety protocols.

A rural intersection east of Calgary is once again in the spotlight after Tuesday’s deadly crash, when a Beiseker man in his 20s was killed.

Residents like Steve Brudige say they’ve been calling for safety upgrades on Highway 9 and 564 for years, and he is frustrated that it’s taken tragedy to get attention.

“It seems consistent that there is something major that happens here every year,” he told CityNews.

Several people have been killed in crashes on Highway 9 over the last two years, including two sisters from France, an Irricana woman, a 51-year-old Strathcona man, and four people from Calgary and the Philippines.

Brundige says he has contacted Alberta Transportation to voice his concerns regarding the intersection and can’t seem to get a straight answer

“It’s a lot of … they push the responsibility down the road, saying ‘That’s not our area,’ or ‘Something is in the works,'” he explained.

“I started bugging them in February about it, and they said something is in the works, and they said it was number 19 on their priority list in our region, so ya, it’s pretty bad.”

The province tells CityNews the crossing is already equipped with flashing beacons, rumble strips, turn lanes, and oversized stop signs.

But transportation and economic corridors have now identified the site for a future roundabout. The work is still in the early stages, with an engineering consultant being hired and a proposal heading into the capital planning process.

That means construction could be years away.