As plans to have shovels in the ground for the new K-9 school site on the Wedderburn landsite get closer to being a reality, one question arising is the status of twinning 32nd St. in conjunction with the eventual building of the school.

Okotoks Town Council got their first piece of information of upgrading 32nd during last Monday's meeting.

Town Engineering Manager Marley Oness says a detailed designed "shadow plan" of the southbound lanes have been designed.

"32nd Street in the Town's 5 year capital plan the twinning of 32nd St. was scheduled to take place in 2018," he says. "So for us to accomplish that we would need to do the detailed design for that project in 2017."

The shadow plan will need to be revisited prior to bringing the project to tender a ready state.

But Oness says the designs are the first step in the right direction to twinning.

"It would run from the Stockton Avenue intersection all the way to the north town boundary with the proposal for a new campus site just north of the boundary we would certainly consider taking that design up to the entrance of the new school on the westside of 32nd St."

Once plans have been approved by the Town which will be tabled in the 2017 budget talks, Oness says once the complete plan is set in motion it wouldn't take long to build.

"It would be a full spring, summer and fall construction for that length of roadway and the current estimate based on 2015 construction dollars was $7.2 million."

The new K-9 school is expected to be completed within the year and a half to two years once the ground breaks this fall.

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