Highway 3 information sessions being planned for Medicine Hat and Seven Person

A construction tender is expected in late 2027 pending the progress on right-of-way and regulatory approvals.

The spokesperson for the Alberta Transportation Minister says that this funding will bolster the agri-business sector in this part of the province and is a strong driver of our economy.

Brian Palichuk is a livestock producer with the Highway 3 Resident and Landowner Coalition.

He says the group was formed to address some of the current plans proposed by Alberta Transportation for the Highway 3 twinning near Seven Persons.

“Some of the changes that they’re proposing are the removal of long-standing public intersections,” Palichuk said.

“Elimination of direct farm access. That really forces reliance on disconnected service roads and widespread disruption to the irrigated and dry land agricultural production.”

Palichuk adds that they aren’t opposed to the construction of the highway, but do have six points of concern with the initial design that they would like to see addressed.

1. To redesign interim access to match rural arterial divided standards.

2. Maintain existing public at-grade intersections during the initial twinning phase.

3. Provide agricultural median crossings where operationally required.

4. To halt unnecessary service road construction that prematurely fragments irrigated and dryland.

5. Address documented engagement concerns directly in the design that were talked about in the September 2024 meeting.

6. Completion and publication of the updated engineering studies, including functional planning, safety, access management and benefit cost assessments.

The spokesperson for the Alberta Transportation Minister says that investing in twinning Highway 3 improves safety, creates jobs and spurs economic investment and diversification along this critical economic corridor.

Gordon Reynolds, chair of the Highway 3 Twinning Development Association, says that they will be holding their Annual General Meeting in the next few weeks.

A representative from Alberta Transportation will attend the AGM.

He says they have learned a lot from the Burdett section of the Highway 3 twinning.

Reynolds still anticipates it will take some time before construction starts on the Medicine Hat to Whitla section.

“A lot went on behind the scenes before we actually saw dirt moving,” Reynolds said.

“My guess would be next year at the earliest, but again, we’ll hopefully get a better timeline from the department in the next few weeks here.”

Reynolds says the Highway 3 Twinning Development Association’s role is to continue advocating for funding in the budgets and give the government good fiscal reasons to do this work.

“That’s what our focus always has been, and it’s up to the government, it’s up to the department to engage with the public on the design and so forth,” Reynolds said.

He adds that the section of Highway 3 from Taber to Burdett could open by late 2026.

“They’ve made really good progress. They did a fair bit of work actually over the winter, and they’ve got one layer of pavement down to Grassy Lake,” Reynolds said.

“As soon as it warms up, we’ll probably see some more paving going on towards Burdett. There’s still some road to build just west of Burdett,” he added.

“This section stops just on the east side of Burdett.”

by Jesse Gill

Highway 3 information sessions being planned for Medicine Hat and Seven Person

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