Group outlines Hwy 3 twinning priorities

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on February 12, 2022.

Herald photo by Al Beeber Traffic crosses the four-lane expanse of Highway 3 across the Oldman River in Lethbridge. The Highway 3 Twinning Association has revised its priorities for the entire highway twinned.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

The Highway 3 Twinning Development Association is calling on the provincial government to fund in whole or in part one or several stretches of road in southern Alberta.
The association has four priorities for twinning. They include Medicine Hat to Sevens Persons, Pincher Station to Bellevue, Seven Persons to Burdett and Fort Macleod Stage 1A which is shovel-ready with a design made and land purchased.
The association revised its priorities after the province announced funding for another priority, the Piikani Nation Functional Planning Study.
Twinning association president Bill Chapman said Wednesday that $420,000 has been earmarked for that two-year project.
He also said work is expected to begin this year on a $150 million twinning project between Taber and Burdett. That stretch of road is 46 kilometres.
“It’s going to be a big deal,” said Chapman, adding it’s a huge topic among people he talks to. A petition is available for people to sign supporting Highway 3 twinning at twin3.ca. The association is hoping to get 10,000 signatures.
In a press release, the association says gross domestic product growth projections for southern Alberta suggest a significant increase because of new and expanding industries.
“Alberta’s eastern portion of the Highway 3 corridor contains most of Canada’s irrigated land with over 65 specialty crops on more than 900,000 acres and providing supply to over 120 processors,” says the association which will be completing an economic impact analysis on the benefits of twinning Highway 3 during the next six months.
“Highway 3 is a critical supply chain pipeline and market access network transportation corridor, recognized as a core national trucking transportation route and Trans Canada Highway alternate route,” says the association.
“Highway 3 is the conduit for transporting finished goods to market throughout Canada and commodity exports to ports on the west coast.”

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