New four-lane Highway 3 stretch between Taber and Burdett now open
Final line painting and other finishing touches continue even as traffic flows on the twinned corridor, with a 110 km/h limit planned once work wraps up.
Why it matters
The twinned highway improves safety and traffic flow for farmers, commercial truckers and motorists on a key southern Alberta agricultural route.
The newly twinned section of Highway 3 between Taber and Burdett is open to traffic, though crews are still completing line painting and other finishing work. Gordon Reynolds, mayor of Bow Island and president of the Highway 3 Twinning Development Association, toured the route on Monday and said the four-lane stretch is already improving traffic flow, with the highway reverting to two lanes just past Burdett.
Reynolds said the extra lanes will particularly help during harvest season, when large farm equipment and heavily loaded trucks, including those hauling specialty crops like potatoes and sugar beets, use the corridor. He noted some sections have service roads allowing equipment to bypass the highway, but the new lanes give traffic more room when big machinery or house moves need the road itself.
Speed restrictions remain in active construction zones near Taber, where crews are finishing the connection and alignment with the town. Once all work is complete, the speed limit on the twinned section is expected to rise to 110 km/h.
Attention is now shifting to the next phase, twinning between Medicine Hat and Whitla, where surveying and land acquisition have begun. Utility relocations are planned for next year, with major construction potentially starting in 2028. Reynolds said other southern Alberta highway projects are also underway, including a realignment near Fort Macleod and design work west of Brocket.
Compiled by the Alberta Daily Desk — an AI-written summary of reporting from the credited sources below, produced and reviewed under our editorial policy.