A section of Hwy. 63 between Beacon Hill and the Athabasca River has been without any working lights for some time and is finally being addressed.
According to Press Secretary for the Minster of Transportation Rob Williams, new light standards had been installed next to the old light poles as part of the Alberta Transportation’s lighting upgrade project.
These new lights were supposed to replace the old ones, however, due to COVID-19 that project was delayed.
Williams noted that the old lights were left in place to ensure that Hwy. 63 in that area would remain lit and stated that ATCO Electric owns the old lights.
Mix 103.7 reached out to ATCO and were told by officials that when the new lights were put in, the old lights were badly damaged.
“We jointly made the decision that it would be better to just turn the new lights on and we won’t go ahead with the repairs. It doesn’t make sense to repair something that’s going to be salvaged out anyway.”
The ATCO official explained that on their end all the infrastructure to turn on the new lights are in, “They (Alberta Transportation) just need to turn things on for their end.”
ATCO stated that they intend to get working on having that section of Hwy. 63 illuminated as soon as possible and will begin work this week.
Williams explained that they will be working with ATCO to get the new lights turned on.