By Tim Kalinowski on July 16, 2021.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com
The Highway 3 Twinning Association is asking citizens of southern Alberta to give it feedback on its lobbying efforts to divide the highway between Medicine Hat and the Crowsnest Pass, and to make suggestions on what its strategic priorities should be going forward.
“We find it important for moving forward for the next three years,” Bill Chapman, the association’s president, says of the survey. “Our association has really been very delighted and grateful for the funding that has been received a year ago at this time for the twinning of Hwy. 3 from Taber to Burdett for $150 million from the provincial government. It was a real starter to getting progress on the go here, and we are really grateful for that seed money to get things started again.”
With the recent provincial government interest in and support for Hwy 3 twinning growing, Chapman’s organization felt it was the right time to check in with local citizens and stakeholders.
“The number of stakeholders we have on the Hwy. 3 corridor have really shown a keen interest in twinning,” he states, “and what it means to their businesses for growth and success. The purpose (of the survey) is to gather dialogue with our stakeholders along Hwy. 3 through the membership to find out for ourselves what’s the best direction we have for clear priorities that we have tabled with the government.”
The survey also serves as a snapshot about how citizens and stakeholders feel about the Highway 3 Twinning Association itself, confirms Chapman.
“We just want to get a clear direction now that the government has started this process,” he states. “I think the main thing for the association is we are about seeing the whole of the project, and not just one piece or portion of it. We believe the government needs to act and twin it from the Crowsnest Pass to Medicine Hat.”
To view the 2022-2024 Hwy. 3 Twinning Association Strategic Planning survey visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WFC3PH9
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