Friday, March 7, 2014

MLA Pat Stier takes Highway 3 concerns to Legislature

On March 6, 2014 Livingstone-Macleod MLA Pat Stier addressed the Legislative Assembly of Alberta with information and concerns about Highway #3, including input from southern Alberta Mayors and Reeves.The following is the text of MLA Stier's address.
MLA Pat Stier

Thank you Mr. Speaker!

Recently at a meeting of the Mayors and Reeves of Southern Alberta, significant concerns were once again expressed, regarding the lack of attention to the Highway #3 twinning upgrades and improvements, that were promised several years ago by the Government of Alberta.

Communities across Southern Alberta have looked forward to these improvements to Highway # 3, as that road system connects dozens of communities with one another and also forms the key connecting corridor to the Province of British Columbia and the Northwestern United States.


Stretching across the province, the road serves many small towns and rural areas plus Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Fort Macleod, Pincher Creek and the Crowsnest Pass communities. It is a main transportation route into and out of the Southern tip of the Province that carries Canadian Products to foreign markets via the nearby US border and to the West Coast terminals in Vancouver. And conversely of course, it is the main connecting road system from the Canadian Prairies and the United States to Highways # 1 and #2, supplying convenient routes to the growing industries of all of Alberta.

This road was extensively studied, had several recommended new alignments to eliminate the frequent bottlenecks and was approved several years ago for significant upgrades, including twinning west of Fort Macleod by Premier Stelmach himself in May of 2007.

Yet, despite that fact and that this corridor is so vitally important to Albertas’ economy and an obvious crucial link to our entire transportation network, it still today remains a two lane road in most areas, full of bottlenecks with only slightly altered areas that have had only minor improvements of just a few passing lanes!

As the Mayors and Reeves of Southern Alberta are deeply concerned that the Provincial Government has been ignoring this issue for far too long and fear that without added attention to this matter that the economies in the region will continue to be hampered, on their behalf,- I am asking for immediate attention by the Minister of Transportation and this Government, to please act now and make this project a chief priority by putting it on the Major Highway Construction plan just as soon as it may be possible. Thank You!

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