Highway 3 twinning underway in 2024 – Delays in 2023 postponed expected start

Posted on April 18, 2024 by Ryan Dahlman

By Trevor Busch
Southern Alberta Newspapers
editor@tabertimes.com

Originally announced in 2020 under then-Premier Jason Kenney and initially expected to get underway last year, the province recently confirmed in the provincial budget that the long-awaited twinning of Highway 3 will finally see shovels hit the ground in 2024.

Last month, Premier Danielle Smith reconfirmed the UCP’s commitment to the project with major construction expected to start soon on the initial 46 kilometre stretch between Taber and Burdett. 

“So (there was) $170 million set aside in the budget, that’s the line item in there,” said Taber-Warner MLA Grant Hunter. “So it’s good to see for the 46 kilometres between Taber and Burdett. If you’ve ever driven that road recently, you can see there’s a whole flurry of activity going on there staging the paving equipment. And so I think that’s going to move quite quickly. We still have plans of being able to have that finished by 2025.”

There will also be funding in place to commence a new highway project widening a 55 kilometre stretch of Highway 41 between the Trans-Canada Highway and an area south of Elkwater.

Smith also reconfirmed the UCP’s intention to eventually finish twinning the remaining 169 kilometres of Highway 3 from border to border, with various levels of engineering work currently underway on eight sections of development.

Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen has confirmed that the section of highway closest to Medicine Hat, as well as the Crowsnest Pass, are expected to be the last two stages of highway twinning to be completed.