Highways in Canada

[sonysnob]

I think its the presence of the First Nations community that has driven the extra wide right of way. Firstly, I'm sure neither the province or the city would want to renegotiate a land deal with the first nations community should the highway need to be widened. Even if the first nations community was a willing participant, such a process is complicated and time consuming.

The other thing is that the presence of the first nations community probably means there will be a significant gap in the local roads network to the west of Calgary. If Calgary continues to grow to the west, that local road network gap may become more apparent in the future. It's for this reason, that the widest roads in a city are usually in the vicinity of an airport. An airport is a major traffic generator that also tends to create a significant gap in the local road network.