Fort McMurray gets $5M to study second highway out of the city

A year after a wildfire and chaotic city-wide evacuation, the province says it's completing a feasibility study and is prepared to spend $5 million designing a second highwayout of Fort McMurray, Alta.

"That's the first step," Premier RachelNotleysaid Wednesday."We have dedicated funds to that."

• Premier doesn't rule out 2nd Fort McMurray highway
• Traffic-clogged highway during Fort McMurray wildfire spurs call for 2nd highway

Last May, a ferocious wildfire forced approximately88,000 people to flee the region with those heading south choking Highway 63 for hours.

Many evacuees becamestuck in traffic with some runningout of gas as walls of flames showered embers and ash onto the road.

Two teenagers escaping the fire died a head-on collision with a logging truck on May 4.

Onevictim'sparents suspected the exhaustion of the evacuation might have played a role in their deaths.

In October, Wood Buffalo municipal council and its wildfire subcommitteesupported a motion to request $10 million in pre-design funding for the East Clearwater Highway.

The municipality will chip in $5 million and estimates the totalpre-design study will cost $15 million. It hoped the province, the federal government and industry would chip in the rest.

The ring road would connect northern communities such as Fort McKay, oilsands sites and Fort McMurrayitself to Highway 881, offering a second escape route if Highway 63 was ever blocked, as it was during the May 2016 wildfire.

Alberta Transportation Minister Brian Mason said his department and the municipality will finishthe feasibility study later this year.

The study,which began in December, will estimate the cost of the highwayand outline"prohibitive costs"or "insurmountable obstacles," Mason said.

The minister said he did not expect any issues wouldarise at this early stagethat would kill the project.

Local reaction

Wood Buffalo recovery committee member Marty Gileshailed the funding promise as an indication the $1.5-billion highway is one step closer to reality.

"This is the farthest we have ever been down the road on this," Giles said.

Jeanette Bancarz, chair of the recovery committee, said the chaos of the Fort McMurray wildfire evacuation has underscored the need for a second evacuation route.

"I fully expect the whole safety consideration is now at the forefront," Bancarz said. "I don't think it was as urgent prior."

Follow David Thurton, CBC'sFort McMurraycorrespondent, onFacebook,Twitteror contact him viaemail.