The dirt has been turned, the equipment is ready to roll, and Cochrane is about to embark upon a series of massive infrastructure upgrades.

Town council has already held low-key COVID-friendly shovel ceremonies for both the new Protective Services Building and Transit Hub/Innovation Centre. The Hwy. 1A upgrade will also start shortly, although an official ceremony has been delayed to allow more people to attend.

That's a total of $41.7 million in projects.

Mayor Jeff Genung says these projects have been bottlenecked for years and speaks passionately about all of them.

While financially it isn't the town's biggest transportation project, he believes the Hwy. 1A upgrades will be the most significant.

"Whether you commute on the 1A every day or you occasionally travel into the city, or you're going across town, you're using the 1A corridor," says Genung. "It's a major component of Cochrane's transportation corridor."

Transportation minister Ric McIver is expected to be here for a formal event in late June after the work has started.

"Centre Ave. is where I understand things are going to start, and they're going to work from the bottom of the hill westward and continue until eventually we hand off this project to the province and see the Hwy. 1A-22 interchange constructed."

He's bracing himself for complaints about the inconvenience of construction. but says it will be worth it.

"I'm going to have a grin on my face when I can say, 'Finally.' This is such a long time coming for our community."

Genung grew up across the street from what is now the Totem Building. Back then it was the home of the 1A drive-in.

"I use to walk across with my grandfather for ice cream there. It was an iconic little place in town."

His parents moved elsewhere in the late 80s because the province was planning to upgrade the highway.

"Now the town is now taking it upon ourselves to get this going, to get that artery enlarged, and really make a difference on the impact traffic congestion has upon our community."

Cochrane CrossingCochrane town council celebrates the start of the construction of the Cochrane Crossing. Top, from left, Tara McFadden, Alex Reed, Mayor Jeff Genung, and Marni Fedeyko. Bottom, Patrick Wilson, Susan Flowers, and Morgan Nagel.

The Transit Hub/Innovation Centre, which includes a small park and a pedestrian crossing to the Historic Downtown, is the first of the tri-site projects to be launched. Its multi-facets will play a valuable role in the downtown core. It may eventually become a place where people can catch the train, should a passenger service be introduced between Calgary and Banff.

The building has been named The Station, and the entire site will be known as the Cochrane Crossing.

As part of its development, Genung believes there's an opportunity to tell the Cochrane area story and would include an Indigenous component.

"I'm looking forward to that being a place where people can do business and catch a bus. The connection across the tracks is a key component of that and people will be able to hang out passively and maybe watch the trains."

After the town completes its part of the pedestrian crossing project, CP Rail takes over. No timeline is available for CP, but the town expects to complete its portion by next summer.

The most expensive of the three is the $23 million Protective Services Building. It may not have been discussed as long as the highway upgrades but has been on the to-do list for well over 10 years.

In that time, Cochrane has more than doubled in population.

"The sardine can they're working out of in the east end of town is long overdue for replacement." 

The Cochrane Crossing is expected to be completed by the summer of 2022, the Hwy. 1A upgrades in the fall of 2022, and the Protective Services Building in the spring of 2023.