Bike Cochrane is concerned that the future Hwy. 1A-22 interchange will threaten connectivity for cyclists and pedestrians, and believes now is the time to take measures to prevent that from occurring.

Paul Perrault, Bike Cochrane's director of operations and active transportation committee chair, believes once constructed, the interchange will become a pedestrian/active transportation barrier that will also impact connectivity for future projects, like the Horse Creek Destination Sports Park, future high school, and even the Cochrane and District Agricultural Society.

He believes including an underpass in the design is a much more affordable option than addressing the issue at a later date.

In a preliminary estimate, he pegs the cost at between $900,000 and $1,875,000 plus $20,000 for solar lighting and suggests a 60 to 75m width would be required, depending upon its location.

He does applaud officials for pursuing what he calls a generational transportation project but believes this component should be included from the get-go.

"Once that project is complete, the ability to really change, shape, and move how people travel afterward is really restricted," he explains. "Part of the reason why it's so important to look at now is that if we're not thinking about the travel patterns and how people are going to wheel or walk after that project's done 10 years for now, then we're really not doing our jobs."

Dealt with later, he believes would require a $5 to $10 million overpass to prevent people from attempting to play frogger across the highway.

"We really don't want to have that happen across an 80 or 100 kph highway, so we have to think about it now and deal with it with either an underpass or other ways to try and manage that traffic flow."

Left unresolved, people would be required to make a round trip of about 5km to the RancheHouse Rd. to cross the highway. There's a significant 130m elevation change in that section of the highway

"Lots of active transportation research has shown if there isn't a way to reasonably getting across a highway, people are simply going to jump across the highway. We've seen that in Canmore coming across the TransCanada Highway before they put in an underpass, and we've seen that now for people crossing the highway if there isn't a better way to deal with it."

He says they have received positive feedback from town, school, and transportation officials so far.

"Everybody has said this does look like something we have to look at. We're simply trying to publicize the need for this, and to get people thinking about where our town is going to be in 10-plus years, and think about how we want to use and travel through the town once the interchange is done."

He says that section of highway will be ripped up to complete the new interchange and the cost could easily be incorporated into the overall budget to make active transportation a major component.