“We know that things have been tight because of the oil prices and so on, so it was a bit of a surprise. We are quite excited about that.”
That is from Gord Reynolds, the mayor of Bow Island and chair of the Highway 3 Twinning Development Association. He spoke with Vista Radio about a provincial government investment of $152 million over three years included in Budget 2026.
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The funding commitment is allocated for the twinning of a 36 kilometre stretch of Highway 3 from east of Bow Island, in Whitla, to Medicine Hat.
The project will see that section of the highway go from two lanes to four, which Reynolds said will make a positive impact on drivers in southern Alberta.
“This definitely supports improved safety,” he said.
“It should improve transportation efficiency and then over the long term, stronger economic activity along the southern corridor.”
Currently, crews are completing the twinning of Highway 3 from Taber to Burdett. Reynolds said that part of the infrastructure project is expected to be finished in the fall.
As for the Whitla to Medicine Hat section, Reynolds said, “There’s a lot of pieces that have to come together behind the scenes before we see actual construction”.
“[The Budget 2026 funding] means the department now has the money to go ahead and put everything in place and then get a tender [for construction] out and get going.”
Reynolds explained that a major component of the Highway 3 twinning project is acquiring land, which is used for the expanded highway.
He noted that some delays for the Taber to Burdett section were due to not enough land being acquired ahead of the start of construction.
“My guess is that could take as much as a year to put all those parts of the puzzle together, then prepare the tender documents and hopefully we can see some activity in the next couple of years,” Reynolds said.
However, he said the association is excited about this latest development.
“We know that things have been tight because of the oil prices and so on, so it was a bit of a surprise. We are quite excited about that.”
More information on the twinning of Highway 3 between Taber and Burdett is available here, while details on the section between Whitla and Medicine Hat are here.
