Alberta Highway 43

Infobox road
province=AB
type=Hwy
route= 43
alternate_name =
map_custom = yes

Grande Prairie

Valleyview

Fox Creek

Whitecourt

Mayerthorpe

Calgary

Edmonton

length km = 520
direction_a = West
direction_b = East
starting_terminus = British Columbia border
junction = Hwy 59, Hwy 40, Hwy 2, Hwy 49, Hwy 32, Hwy 18, Hwy 22, Hwy 33, Hwy 37, Hwy 16,
ending_terminus = Beach Corner, west of Edmonton
counties = Grande Prairie, Greenview MD, Woodlands, Lac Ste. Anne, Parkland
cities = Grande Prairie, Whitecourt, Fox Creek, Valleyview
established =
system = CANAMEX Corridor
previous_type = Hwy
previous_route = 42
next_type = Hwy
next_route = 44

Highway 43 is the main Alberta highway stretching from the Yellowhead just directly west of Edmonton to the Alberta/British Columbia provincial border via Grande Prairie. The highway has been designated as a part of the CANAMEX Corridor.

Development

The provincial government is currently twinning the entire stretch of Highway 43 to a four-lane divided highway from the intersection with the Yellowhead Highway at Beach Corner to the Alberta/BC border. As of October 2007, the twinning to Grande Prairie is mostly complete, with the exception of a km to mi|38|abbr=yes section of two-lane highway through Sturgeon Lake First Nations reserve. The Sturgeon Lake section could start construction as early as the Fall of 2009. [Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation: [http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200710/222466CFFCACA-EAF1-E64D-56CCE2BA91891D25.html Highway 43 twinning to go through Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation] ]

The twinning from Grande Prairie to the Alberta/BC border is not expected to be completed until 2012 or thereafter, although a section from Grande Prairie west to Wembley is already twinned. Highway 43 was (and still is) one of Alberta's most dangerous highways, especially where there are still two-lane stretches not yet twinned. This is due to large animals such as moose and elk, high traffic volumes, careless driving around large vehicles such as logging trucks, speeding motorists and construction. The rapid economic growth of Grande Prairie and area, safety concerns and the CANAMEX trade corridor designation pushed the need for twinning.

A partial cloverleaf interchange is already completed at Four Mile Corner ("not" a settlement, but rather an informal name used widely by locals for the intersection of Highways 2 and 43) a few kilometres (miles) north of Grande Prairie, with another expected to go up in the west side of the city in conjunction with a planned Highway 43X bypass. Expansion of the Four Mile Corner interchange to a full cloverleaf has begun with the start of construction of a new bridge. This overpass on the eastbound lanes of Highway 43 will connect with the current Range Road 63 to the east and with a new Canadian National Railway rail overpass to the west. Construction started in September 2007 with an estimated completion by October 2008. The bypass around Grande Prairie is needed due to rapidly rising traffic volumes. The current northwest bypass, built in the late 1960s, is increasingly no longer functioning as a true bypass for that reason as well as traffic lights being set up at intersections along the current bypass.

History

Prior to the late 1990s, Highway 43 was three separately numbered highways, although the entire highway was constructed and paved from the early to late 1950s: Highway 2 from the Alberta/BC border to Four Mile Corner, a few kilometres north of Grande Prairie, Highway 34 from Four Mile Corner to Valleyview, and the original designated stretch of Highway 43 from Valleyview to the Yellowhead Highway. The current designation was needed to avoid confusion in light of the CANAMEX Corridor establishment and its importance as a major highway route to Grande Prairie and the Peace Region.

Mile by mile

The highway begins at the provincial border between Alberta and BC, where British Columbia Highway 2 ends just northwest of the hamlet of Demmit.

References