Construction begins on twinning of Highway 3 between Taber, Burdett

After years of delay, twinning of Highway 3 between Taber and Burdett is underway.

“Today is just real proof in the pudding that things do happen and if you put your mind to it and your heart and your passion for this project it’ll certainly come about,” said Bill Chapman, vice-president of the Highway 3 Twinning Development Association.

Highway 3 connects the Crowsnest Pass to Medicine Hat. It’s 324 kilometres long but only about 100 kilometers is twinned – from Fort Macleod to Taber.

Now, construction has begun on a 46 kilometre stretch between Taber and Burdett.

“The easiest,” said Devin Dreeshen, Alberta’s Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors.

“It’s the flattest, straightest. The others -- like when you get close to the B.C. border -- are more complex when you have more communities involved.”

The $170 million project was initially announced in 2020, but was pulled back because of the pandemic.

Construction was then supposed to start on the eight phase project  last spring, but delays pushed that timeline to 2024.

“Safety implications are obviously a factor,” Dreeshen said. “This twinning will really make sure that head on collision won’t be a threat anymore as obviously all lanes of traffic are going the same directions but we’ve seen huge investments in this region and lots of companies interested in investing in southern Alberta.”

Officials says hundreds of millions of dollars of goods and service travel the highway each year.

“We’re going to see some of the greatest growth in the agri-food sector we’ve ever seen in Alberta and North America in the next 10 to 20 years,” said Grant Hunter, MLA for Taber-Warner.

Phase one is set to be complete by next spring.