8 | Alberta Transportation
road projects is the contract itself which
takes into account the capital needed to
make changes to the roads if required in the
future. “It would help contractors to coordi-
nate and adjust road elevations if needed in
the future rather than moving a utility. Add-
ing this particular utility component is some-
thing new to the P3,” says Bill. Furthermore,
the contracts also help contractors attain en-
vironmental permits that they might need
during construction. Alberta transportation
started working on negotiating for permits
and permissions a year in advance making it
easier to get contractors on board faster and
saving time. Bill adds, “We did a lot of home-
work as different strategies were used to put
such a contract together and it meant that in
the end we would be reducing the risk on the
schedule of the project.”
Besides the contract, construction
methods used during the ring road were also
innovative. In a particular area of the ring
Ric McIver, Minister of Transportation and Calgary
