We're preparing to shift traffic from eastbound M-14 to the westbound lanes so we can rebuild the eastbound side, but there are problems with the pavement that have to be addressed first.

We're looking at July to be the halfway point where we open Arsenal and Wagner to traffic and close Campbell and Hayes.

They're pretty extensive repairs. I fully anticipate we should have those bridges reopened to traffic some time in October.

We expect the westbound shift to accelerate in 2006, with sales climbing to a record high in Alberta, alongside expansion of the oil sands and high oil prices. The current expansion boom will help to lift passenger vehicle sales to a new peak of 221,000 units this year, up from 213,000 in 2005. Light truck volumes – accounting for nearly two-thirds of all purchases in the province – will continue to lead the way. Light truck sales in Alberta surged by 14 percent last year and now represent 18 percent of the Canadian total. In contrast, the province accounts for less than 10 percent of car sales in Canada.

Those lanes will be constructed during the 2006 construction season. Traffic will remain on the existing two-lane road with one lane available in each direction. Then in 2007, we'll build two new lanes east of the existing lanes. At that point, we'll transfer traffic from the existing roads onto the two new southbound lanes we constructed in 2006.

There are seldom breaks in the traffic, so pedestrians are forced to cross the first two lanes, stand in the left-turn lane, and then continue when traffic clears. It's a bad, bad situation.