By Geoff Smith (@smithco on Twitter)

Open house to discuss planning study for Highway 3 twinning

Jun 26, 2017 | 5:22 AM

TABER – There are ambitious ideas for southern Alberta’s Crowsnest Highway. But it will be years before they’re realized.

The province intends to convert Highway 3 to a freeway that will stretch from the B.C. boundary at Crowsnest Pass all the way to the eastern end of the highway at Medicine Hat. Currently it’s a divided highway between Taber and the Highway 2 interchange just west of Fort Macleod, but the remainder is two lanes with intermittent passing lanes.

The portion currently being looked at for twinning stretches east from Taber to west of Burdett. The first step is a functional planning study, which is being conducted by Stantec Consulting. Details will be presented at a drop-in open house in Taber Thursday, June 29. (Another open house, slated for Tuesday, June 27 in Bellevue, will discuss a planning study for twinning a portion of the highway in that region.)

The four steps in the study, each of which will include public consultation, are:

• Project introduction;
• Feasible options;
• Recommended option; and
• Final report

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It will include studying the staging of the project, road alignment and interchanges, and land requirements. The study is expected to take until spring 2018 to complete.

Alberta Transportation points out there is no funding in the current three-year provincial construction program for any portion of the twinning at this time. Available money, and the government’s priorities, will dictate when construction will take place.

Bill Chapman, president of the Highway 3 Twinning Development Association, says a study conducted fifteen years ago showed the benefits of twinning the highway. He’s grateful to see that study being updated and hopes the project is given a high priority.

“For every dollar that the government would spend on construction, there would be a three dollar economic benefit from that,” he said. “So there’s strong, good data to prove that the benefit of twinning is there.”

Chapman explained that would add up to $2 billion over 20 years, through lower operating costs and emissions, for example. While safety is the number one reason, he added, most people agree it would also better meet the needs of agriculture, movement of goods and services, and other traffic.

The total twinning cost, according to Chapman, would be approximately $1.5 billion dollars, roughly equal to what it cost to twin the Fort McMurray. He says it has the support of all of the municipalities along the corridor, as well as local chambers of commerce and the provincial organization.

The Taber open house is set for 4-8 p.m. June 29 at the Heritage Inn.