Strathcona County: Sustainable Rural Road Master Plan

In the Fall of 2019, Strathcona County retained Al-Terra to review the 2010 Sustainable Rural Road Master Plan (SRRMP) and to develop the Sustainable Rural Roads Master Plan for 2021. The purpose of the SRRMP is to guide how rural roads are maintained and rehabilitated in Strathcona County. The SRRMP encompasses 1,314 km of roadways that include range roads and township roads, roads within rural residential subdivisions and roads within rural hamlets. Provincial highways and Sherwood Park urban roadways are excluded as they are maintained and upgraded outside of the scope of the document

The SRRMP 2021 identified several strategic actions to assist Strathcona County in continuing to manage an effective rural transportation network. A summary of the key recommendations are:

  • Preservation of investment by implementing updated maintenance practices
  • Measures to improve the safety performance of the road network
  • An update to the rural road functional classification and design standards
  • Development of rehabilitation design guidelines
  • Funding recommendations for continued preservation and improvement of the network

A public engagement program was developed to guide the process for engaging residents and stakeholders. Public engagement consisted of two phases. The goal of the first phase, held at the beginning of the project, was to engage the rural residents and stakeholders at a “Listen and Learn” level to gain an understanding of how residents felt about the rural road network, current maintenance and rehabilitation practices and road safety. Data gathered from the public engagement help inform the project team to understand the local conditions and experiences of the users that travel the roads each day. The second phase was held near the completion of the project and consisted of reporting back what was heard during the first phase and to gauge the level of support of the presented draft recommendations.

A value analysis workshop was held and was attended by the project team, County staff, staff from neighbouring municipalities, and experts from outside consultants and contractors. The goal of the workshop was to identify innovative ways to develop, maintain, rehabilitate, and upgrade the rural roads in the County and provide the project team with options for further investigation. The key ideas that were developed were evaluated and several were incorporated into the recommendations.