Two major roads projects planned by Cochrane Infrastructure this summer were highlighted at a May 3 open house.

Major improvements to the awkward route into West Cochrane and the realignment of Griffin Road in preparation for the new Bow River crossing were detailed in a series of panels with town staff and Urban Systems representatives on hand to answer questions.

Rick Deans, town senior infrastructure manager, says those at the open house provided valuable feedback.

"We're very pleased with the turnout," says Deans. "We had some people here before the open house even started and so far we've had some good questions and great feedback and we have comment cards so we're certainly going to take back any feedback we get and discuss it with our engineering company and see what we can do."

Improvements are slated to take place from late June to the end of August for roadways just off Hwy. 22 that lead to West Cochrane.  West Side Dr: will be widened, plus new sidewalks and a new pedestrian crossing.will be completed. In that same area, West Rock Rd: will receive surface improvements and a new sidewalk on the north side. Surface improvement are also being completed on West Aarsby Rd: from Quigley Dr to West Howes Pl. There's also resurfacing occurring to Quigley Dr. from Hwy. 22 to the Bethany Care Centre entrance.

The long anticipated second bridge across the Bow River will be one step closer after the realignment of Griffin Rd. The road alignment has been finalized on the northside of the river and will include two traffic circles by the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sport Centre to help with vehicle flow. A few more details have to be hammered out before the bridge alignment is finalized.

"We certainly have the north alignment for the roadway and we have the preferred alignment for the bridge," says Deans. "We're just in some of the final stages of negotiations with some of the stakeholders on the south and that way we can land on that bridge final alignment and then design the connecting pieces of the roadway and construct."

The Griffin Rd. upgrade is the larger of the two projects and is scheduled to start later this month and continue until November.