Fine details were not provided at last night's council meeting on exactly how the town intends to improve traffic flow, and how much money it will borrow to make it possible.

Despite the lack of full disclosure, town council approved $12.9 million in spending to support highway and local roadway improvements to be funded with a combination of provincial grants, offsite levies, and debt.

Last night largely served as hype for an upcoming Nov. 5 live session where town officials will discuss what was called a comprehensive solution by interim chief administrative officer Drew Hyndman.

Council approved spending $8.62 million to complete highway transportation upgrades in 2021-22. The same year, it will realign 4th Ave. to 5th Ave. at a cost of $3.12 million. 

In 2022, an additional $275,000 will be spent on additional construction and engineering and $885,000 for additional upgrades to highway transportation.

The town recently received approval for $3.5 million in provincial government stimulus funding that is earmarked to partially fund the work.

Exactly how much the town will borrow was not made clear, but Hyndman said it would have minimal impact on property taxes. He says as the details are hammered out on the size of the debenture there would be the opportunity for input from town residents.

He says to get the projects underway in the spring of 2021, action needs to be taken now. 

"If we're going to ready to move forward in the spring of 2021, which we feel is really important, we need to get moving and do some of the preliminary work, which is already in progress, but there will be more opportunity for discussion."

Many of the ideas are decades old, as Mayor Jeff Genung alluded to by providing a historical perspective. He says many date back to when he was a kid growing up in Cochrane.

Genung says taking the bull by the horns and represents a significant shift in the town's approach to the traffic issue.

"While we have waited in the past for the province to upgrade their infrastructure, we at this point are saying, we will build that infrastructure, we will manage our own destiny, we will take control of our own roads going through our community."

He was pleased to see the realignment of 4th Ave. to 5th Ave. included in the strategy. Several years ago the railway crossing at 4th Ave. was closed in anticipation of a future provincial government Hwy. 1A project.

"Way back when, when this was a provincial project, they had determined 4th to 5th was part of this as well. So, this is really is working the plan that has existed for a great number of years."

The Cochrane Transportation Plan will be fully revealed on Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. in a live stream. It will be interactive and allow for questions from the public.