Today, construction began on the twinning of Highway 3, between Taber and Burdett.
Bill Chapman, from the Highway 3 Twinning Development Association, says this milestone is history in the making. “After more than 40 years of meetings, three generated impact analysis studies, countless kilometres travelled to meetings and the countless hours in boardrooms, we are grateful for the commitment of the provincial government to twin the remaining 220 kilometres of highway.”
Chapman adds the construction marks the commencement of Stage One of the project.
“All the economic impact analysis studies have shown, for every dollar of investment into construction, we have $3 in return in economic development and activity along the Highway 3 corridor,” notes Chapman. “Those investments are already taking place. We’ve already seen a number of mega projects starting to surface along this corridor.”
“We’re noticing more tourism and recreation discovering this corridor and twinning will strengthen those destinations,” adds Chapman.
Devin Dreeshen, Alberta minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors, says this project was decades in the making.
“The Highway 3 twinning is going to be broken up into eight phases. This is the first phase, between Taber and Burdett, which is a 46-kilometre stretch. This first phase will be completed by next year.”
Dresshen adds local safety issues, such as not having head-on traffic, can now be addressed once the twinning is completed. “On the safety side of things, for people and families that live in this area, it’s a huge announcement. As well as for the economics of the entire province for this to be that key economic corridor for the province.”
According to Dresshen, there’s going to be a major realignment near Grassy Lake and Highway 877. “Probably just a complete bypass going around there, but this first section we started because it’s the easiest stretch. The other seven phases are in different parts of designing and engineering. We want to see them completed, as soon as possible, so this entire Highway 3 twinning project can be completed.”
