'Dangerous and aggravating': Yellowhead Trail upgrade can't come too soon for truckers

The announcement of a massive upgrade to the Yellowhead Trail, one of Edmonton's busiest and most dangerous roads, comes as a relief totruckers.

The $1-billion projectwill turn a section ofYellowheadTrail into a freeway without traffic signals.

• Province to fund its share of Yellowhead Trail improvement project
• Two Yellowhead Trail intersections make most dangerouslist

Sitting in the cab of asemi-truck Andrew Hunt smiles when he hears the news of the upgrade.

"It's really dangerous and aggravating for anybody that has to deal with the traffic lights and that kind of volume of traffic," he said.

Huntfully expected the upgradeto happen, but wishes it would have happened sooner.

The Edmonton-based driverfigureshe'll be retired by the time construction is actually completed.

The project will begin in 2021 and so will the traffic headaches.

"We'll have to use theHendayas an express route, and when we're making deliveries within the city, we'll have to deal withheavy traffic and backups all the time," he said.

DaveEnns,who lives outside of Winnipeg, has travelledYellowheadTrail many times.

"With a freeway being put in, it would be such a time-saver," he said Friday while taking a break at a popular gas station for truckersjust off theYellowhead.

"Safety-wise it would be much better, but it will be quite the project for them to take on."

Ennshascome out of retirement for one last job, and figures he won't be driving through when construction starts.

If he does find himself on theYellowheadwhen it's a freeway, he'll bedriving a vehicle a lot smaller than the semi he's riding on his current trip.

"People have to be in one these trucks to realize what we have to do to stop and start and to try to keep up with traffic and deal with it and the lights,"Ennssaid. "It can be quite a job at times, especially in adverse conditions in the winter."

The federal and provincial governments will commit nearly $250 million each, with the city of Edmonton covering close to $500 million.

Construction is expected to take sixyears. The city will spend the next four yearsbuying propertiesalongYellowheadTrail for expansion.