Premier Rachel Notley was in the city northwest of Edmonton to announce the projects last week. PHOTO: Government of Alberta/Flickr
GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta.—A project to twin a 19-kilometre stretch of highway outside Grande Prairie is moving ahead.
The provincial government announced support Dec. 14 for a pair of highway projects in the growing city northwest of Edmonton.
The larger of the two initiatives involves twinning Highway 40 from the city centre to just south of the Wapiti River. The province has already completed the planning stage for the project and is working on design.
A final price tag for the project has not been determined, but it’s expected to cost between $90 and $110 million. Construction is scheduled to take about four years once land acquisition and utility location is complete.
Meanwhile, crews will be working on a new interchange to better connect the city’s main thoroughfare, Highway 43, to the soon-to-open Grande Prairie bypass. The bypass, or Highway 43X, is currently under construction and scheduled to open to traffic next summer.
The interchange will help smooth the flow of traffic between the old and new routes. It’s scheduled to be complete by 2023 and cost between $40 and $55 million.
The twinning and interchange projects are expected to create 700 direct and indirect jobs.
