A labor shortage, brutal weather and caribou have bogged down the $1-billion expansion and upgrade of a crucial highway in the Canadian province of Alberta, while public concern mounts over the frequency of deaths on that road.
The rash of recent deaths on Highway 63, including an April 27 crash that claimed seven, has sparked renewed government and industry pledges to expedite the 443-kilometer upgrade between Radway and Fort MacKay. In a region of remote areas and limited infrastructure, Highway 63 provides crucial access for equipment, supplies and labor to several refineries and mining sites in the now-famous oil-sands region, responsible for much of North America's crude output.