Money to twin a stretch of Highway 3 between Medicine Hat and Seven Persons has been added to the Alberta budget this year, with construction expected to begin next year.--NEWS PHOTO ZOE MASON
zmason@medicinehatnews.com
Five years after the UCP government first announced a plan to twin Highway 3, the section terminating in Medicine Hat is slated for expansion in the new fiscal plan.
Budget 2026 includes $152 million over three years for twinning Highway 3 from Seven Persons to Medicine Hat.
The funding will be used to expand the 36-kilometre stretch of highway from two lanes to four.
At a press conference Friday, Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen said the project is a priority for his department heading into the new fiscal year.
“A tender will be going out shortly for construction companies to be able to bid on that project,” he said. “A benefit of building down in southern Alberta, just with it being flat and having pretty easy construction outside, it is something that we do expect to be on time and on budget.”
The first of eight sections, spanning 46 kilometres from Taber to Burdett, is near completion. Construction began on that section last year.
The minister says construction is scheduled to begin on the Medicine Hat-Seven Persons section in 2027.
At a constituency town hall in Medicine Hat on Feb. 21, Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Justin Wright said feedback from the community overwhelmingly supported a route that sees the highway stay in its current location and build north.
Two bypass options were proposed in 2024 for entering Medicine Hat that were designed to allow adequate clearance for potential future airport runway extensions. These options would run north of where Highway 3 is closer to the city’s boundary.
Wright also told constituents they could expect one more town hall with a final design presented to the community before shovels break ground.
The budget includes an $8.3-billion three-year capital plan for the Ministry of Transportation and Economic Corridors that includes $3.3 billion in capital grants to municipalities and $4.8 billion to expand and maintain Alberta’s road and bridge network.
Other major infrastructural investments outlined in the budget include $50 million for replacing the Highway 33 bridge over the Athabasca River near Fort Assiniboine, and $40 million for three other twinning and lane conversion projects.
The Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program, which provides grant funding to municipalities for local roads, bridges and airports, was reduced from $33 million to $29 million for the 2026-27 fiscal year. Across the rest of the fiscal plan, STIP jumps back up to $50 million in 2028-29 and dropping down to $25 million the following year.
Dreeshen says both the STIP and the water grant programs administered by his ministry are under high demand. He says the province remains generous by national standards.
“There’s a huge need for both of these programs, and we try as best as we can to partner with municipalities. But if you look across the country, I don’t think any other province supports municipal infrastructure as much as Alberta does.”
The projects prioritized by these programs will be announced in the coming weeks.
