First of two open houses draws feedback on Highway 3 twinning between Medicine Hat and Whitla

“[It’s] fantastic, really supporting that.”

However, Bruggeman raised concerns about how future intersections will integrate with planned city infrastructure and possible impacts on emergency response times.

“The fire department will have to go out and around to get around on the new Highway 3 and into the South Ridge area of the city, which could be a problem,” Bruggeman said.

Berry Knodel said he wants assurances that property divided by the new highway will remain usable.

“This highway is going to split [our land diagonally], and I want to make sure that the access roads to those parcels that are left are going to be realistic and easily usable so that the land still has some value and that it can be used,” Knodel said.

“I just kind of think that this should have been dealt with sooner because they were talking about starting construction in 2026.”

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(Image Credit: Jett Schwaier/CHAT News)

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Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Justin Wright said the open houses are critical to identifying those types of issues before finalizing designs.

“There’s nothing worse than coming up with a plan and then not seeing unintended consequences,” Wright said.

“This is going to give us a way to really be able to see all of those and have the department staff that’s here really make those impacts in an appropriate and thoughtful way.”

Wright said the project has evolved significantly following earlier public consultation.

“We went from four different routes being explored out of Medicine Hat, went from three different ways through Seven Persons, and now it’s down to one way through Seven Persons based upon overwhelming feedback,” Wright said.

“It really gave us the groundwork that we see now.”

Wright said one of the biggest changes includes a substantial increase in access points along the highway.

“In the first round of plans, the engineers had come [up] with only two entrances on or off the highway, and that just was not going to work for residents,” Wright said.

“We’ve seen an over 400 per cent increase in the number of at-grade intersections.”

Wright said the updated route also reflects concerns about impacts to homes and sensitive areas.

“It really was a path that eliminated the risk with the graveyard that was right there, eliminated unnecessary house loss in through Medicine Hat as you got closer out that way towards the airport,” Wright said.

The project is expected to improve both safety and economic access in the region, Wright said.

“This is a $152 million project that’s going to continue to get our goods produced here locally into market, either through the agri-food corridor through Highway 3 or even further out east,” Wright said.

“It gives us an avenue to be able to add value-added processing to really be able to drive economic investment.”

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READ: $152M in Budget 2026 supports Highway 3 twinning (Feb. 28, 2026)

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Detailed design work is expected to continue through 2026, with regulatory approvals to follow. An online survey on the project remains open until May 12.

A second open house session is taking place on Tuesday in Seven Persons.

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READ: First of two open houses for Highway 3 twinning in Medicine Hat on Monday (Apr. 27, 2026)

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by Jett Schwaier

First of two open houses draws feedback on Highway 3 twinning between Medicine Hat and Whitla

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