One of the new speed limit signs in the Crowsnest Pass on Highway 3. (Supplied by Municipality of Crowsnest Pass)

By David Opinko

Several changes made to Highway 3 speed limits through Crowsnest Pass

Aug 16, 2019 | 11:57 AM

CROWSNEST PASS, AB – Drivers heading through the Crowsnest Pass will need to be aware of a series of changes to the speed limit.

Municipality of Crowsnest Pass CAO Patrick Thomas says the alterations were made to reduce the number of collisions in the area and improve overall traffic flows.

Starting on the western edge of Coleman, the transition from 60 km/hr to 100 km/hr has been pushed back from the bottom of the rock bluff by the transportation yard to the top of the hill.

“For westbound traffic, when you have the large transport trucks that they’re not trying to do a mass acceleration while climbing a hill, that it carries that 60 km/hr speed to the top of the hill, then lets them transition up to 100 when they get to flatter ground,” says Thomas. “It’s also starting to slow people on the east bound direction.”

Then, when the speed limit changes from 50 km/hr to 80 km/hr on the east side of Coleman, that transition has moved further east to allow for people coming out of the Ironstone subdivision and Servus Credit Union to more easily get onto the highway.

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Through the town of Frank, the current 60 km/hr speed zone has been reduced to 50 km/hr.

“They were seeing a lot of rear end collisions through that area with people making left hand turns, so with reducing the speed limit, it’s looking to curb some of them,” says Thomas.

The final alteration is just east of Frank when the speed limit previously went from 60 km/hr to 100 km/hr by Frank Slide and then back down to 80 km/hr near Bellevue. The section that was 100 km/hr is now an 80 zone.

Overall, Thomas does not think that the changes would add more than a couple of minutes of commuting time for every day workers in the Crowsnest Pass, but for people heading through the community on a long weekend, he is not forecasting a noticable difference at all.

The Municipality has provided a map that illustrates the new speed limits below:

A map illustrating the new Highway 3 speed limits through the Crowsnest Pass. (Supplied by Municipality of Crowsnest Pass)

Planning is still ongoing for an eventual twinning of Highway 3 in the Crowsnest Pass, but Thomas said that is still likely many years away.

On the books for the near future are more traffic lights in the area and a left turning lane in Frank.