AB Highway Construction

[craner]

Alberta Highway 3 twinning:
http://https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-twinning-highway-3-taber-burdett-1.6665343

Anyone know if construction is happening this summer ?

[Denscity]

Awesome
My city is on BC's portion of Highway 3 I could only dream of 4 lanes here.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Awesome
My city is on BC's portion of Highway 3 I could only dream of 4 lanes here.

Undivided 4 lanes for you, as per B.C. standard

[craner]

Alberta Premier updates Highway 3 twinning project

There is a good summary at the end of the article of the 8 phases required to complete this project.

http://https://lethbridgenewsnow.com/2023/07/27/alberta-premier-updates-highway-3-twinning-project/

[flipper316]

Originally Posted by craner

Alberta Premier updates Highway 3 twinning project

There is a good summary at the end of the article of the 8 phases required to complete this project.

http://https://lethbridgenewsnow.com/2023/07/27/alberta-premier-updates-highway-3-twinning-project/

Phase 8: Eight kilometres – Alberta-B.C. border to Highway 3X. Continued engagement with B.C. is necessary to consider alignment with improvements being planned through the B.C. portion.

Lol yea right about BC.

[craner]

I drove from Calgary to Edmonton on Sunday and man #2 was busier from end to end, both directions, than I have ever seen it. Around 3:00 just past the Wetaskiwin exit it became stop & go traffic all the way into Edmonton, no accidents, just sheer volume. It actually reminded me of coming into Vancouver on the #1 in the lower mainland.

[Dengler Avenue]

I just came across this on Town of Banff’s FB Page:

The sinkhole in the eastbound lanes has a small opening but was estimated at 7 metres long and 2 metres wide underground.

Parks Canada crews, Standish Towing, RCMP and Town Municipal Enforcement are helping detour TransCanada traffic through town at all main intersections. Thank you to residents and visitors in Banff for keeping clear of the detour. The teams are organizing a detour on the TransCanada of highway traffic onto 2-way traffic, sharing the westbound lanes this evening.

[Dengler Avenue]

I just noticed that using the north half of Stoney Trail to bypass TCH through Calgary would add 20(!) KM.
Is that why the province has been looking into twinning 22X and 901? If yes, I hope that the entire corridor is grade separated. This may also explain why the exits on TCH east of Calgary are unnumbered.

Ps: This is interesting: http://www.transportation.alberta.ca...%20Summary.pdf

[craner]

^Thanks for posting that Dengler - Ive heard of the plan to transfer the TCH routing to 901 & 22X but I’ve never seen this report before.
Something tells me the timeline for this is still a long way off. They are currently doing some work on 22X just east of the ring road to access a new community called Hotchkiss and it certainly isn’t being done to freeway standard.

Also, if this is the long-term plan, why plan for a Strathmore bypass on the current TCH routing ?

[Dengler Avenue]

Oooo not to freeway standard? In what way?
Apparently the Albertan government wants 2 freeway access to Calgary from the east.
I came across a news story about that when searching “Highway 901X twinning”.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by craner

They are currently doing some work on 22X just east of the ring road to access a new community called Hotchkiss and it certainly isn’t being done to freeway standard.

If you're the community developer, why would you want to pay for freeway-type roads when...
1. Your community is just starting construction
2. There isn't enough ambient traffic to justify a freeway today
3. There won't be enough total traffic in the area to justify a freeway for 20-30 years at the earliest

A ton of growth will need to happen around Calgary to justify turning 22X/901 into a freeway.

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

I just noticed that using the north half of Stoney Trail to bypass TCH through Calgary would add 20(!) KM.

It's not that big of a deal considering you're doing 110 km/h the whole time instead of driving in stop-and-go traffic. Especially during rush hour it'll definitely be faster to bypass on the north half.

[dmuzika]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

I just noticed that using the north half of Stoney Trail to bypass TCH through Calgary would add 20(!) KM.
Is that why the province has been looking into twinning 22X and 901? If yes, I hope that the entire corridor is grade separated. This may also explain why the exits on TCH east of Calgary are unnumbered.

Ps: This is interesting: http://www.transportation.alberta.ca...%20Summary.pdf

The author of the Calgary Ring Road blog (who might have contributed here as well) wrote a piece about the Trans Canada Highway, https://calgaryringroad.com/2013/01/...the-ring-road/. It also goes in some detail about the proposed reroute of TCH 1 to Hwy 22X/901.

I don't see Hwy 1 being rerouted to Hwy 22X/901 - the Calgary business community was against it as it was too much of a bypass around Calgary. Also, Hwy 901 passes through the Siksika Nation, and constructing a freeway through there would be a political non-starter, especially when there are options to go around it. The province also studied converting Hwy 560 to a freeway, which becomes Glenmore Trail, http://www.transportation.alberta.ca...ended_plan.pdf. Maybe that could be tied into TCH 1.

[Dengler Avenue]

In that case, are there plans to make TCH free flowing between Calgary and Chestermere?
Lol I wanna see the plans before I commit myself to drawing something up like I did for Golden and Sicamous in B.C.*
* Here: https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...187593&page=86 #1719, #1720

[kev_427]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

In that case, are there plans to make TCH free flowing between Calgary and Chestermere?
Lol I wanna see the plans before I commit myself to drawing something up like I did for Golden and Sicamous in B.C.*
* Here: https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...187593&page=86 #1719, #1720

There used to be plans for interchanges at Garden Rd, Rainbow Rd, Hwy 7, and Hwy 791 on the Alberta Highway website, if they're not there I have them saved on my computer and I can dig them up for you.

[Dengler Avenue]

Thanks. I've come across this: http://www.transportation.alberta.ca...en_House_2.pdf

[Dengler Avenue]

https://stalbert.ca/site/assets/file...section2-1.pdf, slide 9
The part about Ray Gibbons Drive seems to envision Highway 2 to continue as a freeway north of Edmonton too. That seems consistent with the phantom flyover from Anthony Henday Drive East to Ray Gibbons Drive North.
I wonder why it’s built with curb side drainage then.

[Dengler Avenue]

https://okotoksonline.com/articles/t...o-get-underway

[Metro-One]

Wait..... the province in contributing only 180 million dollars for 46 KM of twinning? I'm guessing there wont be any interchanges or parallel access roads in the scope of this project? Or is Alberta only contributing 1/10 of the cost?

This is why twinning is so slow in BC, look at the final section of the Kicking Horse, 4.5 KM for 700 000 million!

[dmuzika]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Wait..... the province in contributing only 180 million dollars for 46 KM of twinning? I'm guessing there wont be any interchanges or parallel access roads in the scope of this project? Or is Alberta only contributing 1/10 of the cost?

This is why twinning is so slow in BC, look at the final section of the Kicking Horse, 4.5 KM for 700 000 million!

To be fair, Burdett to Taber does not compare to the Kicking Horse Canyon; the terrain would compare to Brooks-Medicine Hat. I'm guessing that there won't be any interchanges (ROW will be preserved) and minimal service roads. The Functional Planning Studies for the entire corridor can be found at https://www.alberta.ca/highway-3-fun...anning-studies.

[craner]

^Nice!
I’m hoping once they start with Phase 1 this spring they can carry on continuously through Phase 8 without interruption.
The terrain west of Pincher gets more challenging and expensive so those sections will take longer and be more costly.