The Alberta government has announced it will be going ahead with twinning Highway 3.
The Highway 3 Twinning Development Association has been advocating for the twinning of the major southern Alberta route for the last 20 years and now shovels are slated to hit the ground on another section of road in the spring.
“Today’s announcement was, really, a clearer announcement of what the government wants to do and to ensure the whole project from Medicine Hat to the Crowsnest Pass is fully done,” said Bill Chapman, president of the Highway 3 Twinning Development Association.
Highway 3 connects the Crowsnest Pass to Medicine Hat and is 324 kilometres long, but only about 100 kilometers is twinned – from Fort Macleod to Taber.
On Friday, the province said a 46-kilometre stretch between Taber and Burdett has funding and construction is expected to start in the spring.
“There’s lots of functional planning studies to go, there’s a lot of land that needs to be bought and we need to make sure that everyone in the area, whether if it’s Bow Island or the Piikani Nation that their involved in the planning process,” said Devin Dreeshen, Alberta’s minister of transportation and economic corridors.
The project will include eight phases of construction. Chapman says Highway 3 has outgrown the volume of traffic and now was the right time to move forward with the project.
“Twenty-four kilometres of passing lanes was certainly okay back in the 90s and of course in the 2000s, but we’ve advanced past that,” he said.
The twinning of the 215 kilometres won’t just improve safety along the highway, but will also impact the local economy, according to Trevor Lewington with Economic Development Lethbridge.
“Anytime you can speed up access to markets, anytime you can make logistics simpler, especially in this day and age, that’s a huge benefit to local business,” Lewington said.
The same message was echoed by Alberta’s premier.
“If we can create the transportation infrastructure for this entire region to grow then that’s the job we got to do,” said Danielle Smith.
Lewington says the project will not only create construction jobs in the region, but, according to an economic report done by the Highway 3 Twinning Development Association, it will bring in additional revenue to smaller towns along the highway.
“They expect hundreds of millions of dollars of impacts to communities along the highway, so I think that’s pretty exciting, the sooner we can get this project in the ground and going, the sooner we’ll start to realize the savings and some of that productivity,” Lewington added.
Funding for the project was initially announced in 2020 but was pulled back because of the pandemic. There is no price tag on the project, which is slated to take 10 years to complete.
The UCP will look at financing options for those projects in the next budget.
The eight phases of this project include:
Phase 1: 46 kilometres – A request for proposals has been issued to the shortlisted design build proponents to twin Highway 3 between Taber and Burdett. Construction is expected to start in 2023;
Phase 2: 10 kilometres – Highway 3X/Coleman Bypass. Functional planning studies have been completed and detailed engineering design will begin in spring 2023;
Phase 3: 15 kilometres – East of Seven Persons to Medicine Hat. Functional planning studies have been completed and detailed engineering design will begin in spring 2023;
Phase 4: 47 kilometres – Blairmore to east of Highway 6 at Pincher Creek. Functional planning studies have been completed and detailed engineering design will begin in 2023;
Phase 5: 28 kilometres – East of Bow Island to east of Seven Persons. Functional planning studies have been completed and detailed engineering design will begin in summer 2023;
Phase 6: 23 kilometres – East of Burdett to east of Bow Island. A functional planning study has been completed and the province will continue to consult with the Town of Bow Island and other stakeholders in order to finalize the alignment;
Phase 7: 38 kilometres – Pincher Creek to west of Fort Macleod. A functional planning study through Piikani Nation is underway and will continue for some time; and
Phase 8: Eight kilometres – Alberta-B.C. border to Highway 3X. Continued engagement with B.C. is necessary to consider alignment with improvements being planned through the B.C. portion.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was higher in late-morning trading, helped by strength in energy stocks, while U.S. stock markets also moved up.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 34.91 points at 23,736.98.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 178.05 points at 41,800.13. The S&P 500 index was up 28.38 points at 5,661.47, while the Nasdaq composite was up 133.17 points at 17,725.30.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.56 cents US compared with 73.57 cents US on Monday.
The November crude oil contract was up 68 cents at US$69.70 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up three cents at US$2.40 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$7.80 at US$2,601.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.28 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Canada’s inflation rate fell to two per cent last month, finally hitting the Bank of Canada’s target after a tumultuous battle with skyrocketing price growth.
The annual inflation rate fell from 2.5 per cent in July to reach the lowest level since February 2021.
Statistics Canada’s consumer price index report on Tuesday attributed the slowdown in part to lower gasoline prices.
Clothing and footwear prices also decreased on a month-over-month basis, marking the first decline in the month of August since 1971 as retailers offered larger discounts to entice shoppers amid slowing demand.
The Bank of Canada’s preferred core measures of inflation, which strip out volatility in prices, also edged down in August.
The marked slowdown in price growth last month was steeper than the 2.1 per cent annual increase forecasters were expecting ahead of Tuesday’s release and will likely spark speculation of a larger interest rate cut next month from the Bank of Canada.
“Inflation remains unthreatening and the Bank of Canada should now focus on trying to stimulate the economy and halting the upward climb in the unemployment rate,” wrote CIBC senior economist Andrew Grantham.
Benjamin Reitzes, managing director of Canadian rates and macro strategist at BMO, said Tuesday’s figures “tilt the scales” slightly in favour of more aggressive cuts, though he noted the Bank of Canada will have one more inflation reading before its October rate announcement.
“If we get another big downside surprise, calls for a 50 basis-point cut will only grow louder,” wrote Reitzes in a client note.
The central bank began rapidly hiking interest rates in March 2022 in response to runaway inflation, which peaked at a whopping 8.1 per cent that summer.
The central bank increased its key lending rate to five per cent and held it at that level until June 2024, when it delivered its first rate cut in four years.
A combination of recovered global supply chains and high interest rates have helped cool price growth in Canada and around the world.
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem recently signalled that the central bank is ready to increase the size of its interest rate cuts, if inflation or the economy slow by more than expected.
Its key lending rate currently stands at 4.25 per cent.
CIBC is forecasting the central bank will cut its key rate by two percentage points between now and the middle of next year.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is also expected on Wednesday to deliver its first interest rate cut in four years.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick‘s finance minister says the province recorded a surplus of $500.8 million for the fiscal year that ended in March.
Ernie Steeves says the amount — more than 10 times higher than the province’s original $40.3-million budget projection for the 2023-24 fiscal year — was largely the result of a strong economy and population growth.
The report of a big surplus comes as the province prepares for an election campaign, which will officially start on Thursday and end with a vote on Oct. 21.
Steeves says growth of the surplus was fed by revenue from the Harmonized Sales Tax and federal money, especially for health-care funding.
Progressive Conservative Premier Blaine Higgs has promised to reduce the HST by two percentage points to 13 per cent if the party is elected to govern next month.
Meanwhile, the province’s net debt, according to the audited consolidated financial statements, has dropped from $12.3 billion in 2022-23 to $11.8 billion in the most recent fiscal year.
Liberal critic René Legacy says having a stronger balance sheet does not eliminate issues in health care, housing and education.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
