Division 7 Councillor Ben Armstrong brought a request to Wheatland County council during the regular Tuesday, August 24 council meeting to send correspondence to Alberta Transportation over concerns regarding repairs to Highway 561 west of the Village of Hussar.
The province previously agreed to build shoulders on the highway for traffic safety, however, in some 10 years this has not occurred and the road has since been made narrower through other roadwork.
“Business is picking up out there, now that we’re talking about windmills going out there and other talk about some other development if it goes through,” Councillor Armstrong said during the meeting. “We just need to let the government know we’re disappointed in how they’re treating (Highway 561).”
The western stretch of the highway runs south of the Village of Hussar and is the main thoroughfare from Highway 1 east of Strathmore to Highway 56 east of the village, with many large trucks and farming equipment traversing this stretch of highway.
Councillor Armstrong noted milling and repairs to lift the road near the Wheatland Crossing School have been completed previously, but developing a proper shoulder along the road has yet to be completed.
Earlier in the day, council had deliberated on reducing speed limits along other roads throughout the county, and Councillor Armstrong noted the highway would be “a good candidate” for a lower speed limit, calling it “a danger to drive” with increased heavy traffic.
Councillor Armstrong moved for administration to draft a letter to Alberta Transportation to outline the county’s concerns regarding the narrow, shoulderless highway and inform them of ratepayer dissatisfaction.
The motion was carried unanimously.

The number of new COVID-19 cases are on the rise across the province, with over 1,000 new cases reported on Wednesday, August 25. The Town of Drumheller has also seen local case numbers climbing.
Despite maintaining low active case numbers locally through the beginning and middle of August, local cases have risen from seven active cases on Friday, August 20 to 12 active cases less than a week later on Wednesday, August 25.
In early May there were over 25,000 active cases across the province; these numbers dropped dramatically to only 560 active cases province-wide by mid-July.
However, the number of active cases has begun to climb over the last month and, as of Monday, August 30 there were more than 11,000 active cases across Alberta. This is the highest number of active cases since May 24 when there was a total of 12,049 active cases reported across the province.
Monday also marked the third day in a row where the province reported over 1,000 new daily cases and, along with climbing case numbers, the number of people in hospital and ICU are also steadily climbing.
On Friday, August 27 there were 308 people in hospital and 64 in ICU; this number rose over the weekend to 401 hospitalizations and 98 ICU admissions as of Monday.
The province announced on Monday third doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be available starting September 1 for seniors in care facilities, immunocompromised Albertans, and Albertans travelling to areas which do not accept the AstraZeneca or mixed doses of the vaccine.
Nearly 78 per cent of eligible Albertans have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and nearly 70 per cent are fully vaccinated. More than 5.55 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to date.
Locally, in the Starland County-Drumheller region, some 7,400 people-or 71.9 per cent of eligible area residents-have received at least one dose, and 63.4 per cent are fully vaccinated.
As of Monday, August 30 the Town of Drumheller has 14 active cases. There are three in Starland County, 23 in Kneehill County, and 28 in Wheatland County.
These numbers were much lower only five days prior on Wednesday, August 25, with a single case in Starland, 14 in Kneehill County, and 13 in Wheatland County.