Image from Government of Alberta document showing the realigned path of a widened QEII Highway as it passes Red Deer.

By Ian Gustafson

Working together

Red Deer city council approves ongoing advocacy of QEII widening project

Sep 15, 2025 | 9:43 PM

The Alberta Ministry of Transportation and Economic Corridors gave an update on a project that would widen the QEII Highway near Red Deer, which led city council to unanimously approve a resolution that directs the chief of staff in the office of the mayor and council for ongoing advocacy and engagement with the ministry.

During the regular city council meeting on Monday, Councillor Cindy Jeffries brought forward the resolution after council reviewed and discussed an update report from the ministry.

Her reasoning for the resolution was to make sure council stays engaged in the issue.

“It’s not that I want to get in the way of the province but I think we need to encourage them to do their best work and to do their best work for the community,” she said.

“I’m recognizing a new council is coming forward and it’s mostly to keep it on the work plate and not prescribing what they should do or what action they should take but I don’t think it should fly off our radar screen. There are significant impacts to our public parks system and there are significant impacts to neighbourhoods adjacent to this space.”

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City manager Tara Lodewyk said the report is meant to provide council with information on where the province is at. She explained it has garnered a lot of attention in the community but reiterated that it is a provincial transportation project and not a city initiated project.

“The city has been meeting with the province to stay informed and raise considerations such as park impacts and we’ve asked for additional consultation with our community,” Lodewyk said.

“The city knows parks are important to our citizens and once we get a proposal from the Government of Alberta, then we can begin to determine what our best position for our city and parks system will be and that will come to council.”

As previously reported by rdnewsNOW, the project, which is currently just in the planning stage, includes various improvements to roughly 11 km of the QEII in the Red Deer area such as work the province says will support enhanced highway capacity and improve safety.

According to a webpage dedicated to the project on Alberta.ca, it will be completed in three different sections. This includes the first section which will replace the existing Highway 2 overpass over the CN railway line, north of Red Deer. Two new, three-lane bridges will replace the existing pair of two-lane bridges built in the early 1960s. The new bridges will be built to the outside of the existing bridges.

The second section will be all about widening the QEII from from four to six lanes from the north side of the Highway 11 interchange up to two kilometres north of the Highway 11A interchange.

And finally, the third section will widen the QEII from four to eight lanes between the 32 Street and 67 Street interchanges. In addition, the two existing Red Deer River bridges will be replaced.

Design work is underway and expected to be finished in 2026.

However, there are public concerns that the highway as it passes Red Deer, would cut off a part of the city’s Maskepetoon Park. Oriole Park homeowners could also be impacted by a widened highway. There was a public information session that was held on July 15 to engage citizens.

Mayor Ken Johnston met with Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen in the spring and explained to the minister the importance of limiting the impact the widening could have on park land. City staff are also monitoring progress through monthly meetings with Alberta Transportation.

“There are very few areas more precious to our citizens than our park system,” Johnston said, adding the project is in the preliminary stages.

The mayor explained his early conversations with the provincial government is that the ministry is looking for a win-win situation and not one that would further upset residents. He also understood that safety is the province’s top priority for the project

He also explained that he’s got a strong sense that the province understands the concerns of everyone.

“I have a sense that once we know all of the facts, how this is going to unfold, we’ll come up with a situation that honours the intent of the problems, which is to address that quarter and the safety impacts and the city’s concerns as well,” he said. “I have every confidence.”

Councillor Lawrence Lee said he was also in the meeting with the minister and explained the ministry asked the city to provide a list of groups they should talk with as they explored plans. Lee said the government is serious about getting local input before making a final decision.