Hwy 3 twinning nearing completion between Taber and Burdett

Posted on September 17, 2026 by Vauxhall Advance

By Trevor Busch
Vauxhall Advance
editor@tabertimes.com

Construction of the Highway 3 twinning project between Taber and Burdett is still on pace for a 2026 completion, says Taber-Warner MLA Grant Hunter, although some minor delays have occurred due to weather conditions.

“The twinning project between Taber and Burdett is ongoing. Obviously, rain affects our ability to keep working on that when it rains heavily. We are still on track to be able to get it done by the end of the year, which was the approach that we took and the deadlines that we had,” said Hunter. “So we’ll still (meet that deadline) unless we have rain for the rest of the year. Albertans in southern Alberta here can be assured that we’ll get it done in time.”

The 46 kilometre stretch of twinned highway includes a new eight kilometre, four-lane divided highway bypass around the hamlet of Grassy Lake. In summer 2026, Ledcor Highways – the province’s contractor for the project – has been focused on completing subgrade between Range Road 123 and 121, gravel between Range Road 131 and 123, base lift paving between Range Road 131 and 121, and final lift paving between Range Road 141 and 121.

“We haven’t announced when that will be, but obviously we will,” said Hunter in reference to a grand opening or ribbon cutting for the completed highway segment. “On different parts of it – which has already happened now – there will be traffic on different parts of it as they get those different parts done. That will probably be happening sometime in January, to have the minister down and us cutting a ribbon.”

The new stretch needed 11 bridge structures, and includes intersection improvements such as acceleration and deceleration lanes, intersection widening, and street lighting. There will also be two rest area pullouts, one westbound and one eastbound, and 10 service roads, as well as the installation of 802 new signs, 38 kilometres of fencing and 58 street lights.

Existing passing lanes will be removed and converted into a grassed median. The highway section between Taber and Burdett currently sees an average of 3,000 – 5,000 vehicles per day.

Inflationary impacts and other factors have driven up the final project cost, says Hunter, who highlighted that despite overruns the province was able to allocated the extra funds. 

“We originally said $150 million, but I think it’s coming in around $170 million, and the reason for that $20 million over budget really is supply chains were affected quite a bit during COVID. They’ve never really come back down as low as we would have liked them to, and so you have some inflationary pressures on all the projects that we’re building. But this one, the extra $20 million, we were not happy about that but we were able to find the money and keep the project going.”

With the Taber-Burdett project being finalized, the province is now targeting further twinning work in the southeast. Budget 2026 allocated $152 million over three years to advance design, land acquisition, and preliminary work for a 36-kilometre stretch from the Medicine Hat limits to three kilometres east of Highway 885 near Whitla.

“We’re going to finish up this part between Taber and Burdett, (but) the functional planning’s been done,” said Hunter. “I believe there’s a little bit more left in terms of consultation, but they’re working through that process. It’s kind of like asking five people what they think about where the water should go – I know they have five different ideas, and so we’re trying to work through making sure that we have a good plan that works for everybody.”

Once the Whitla – Medicine Hat phase is finished, only 30 kilometres of undivided highway through the Bow Island area will remain on the entire route between Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.

As part of the overall border-to-border twinning plan, in the western part of the province bisected by Highway 3 initial design and engineering work ($28 million) is moving forward for segments through the Piikani First Nation and the Crowsnest Pass. For the planned Fort Macleod realignment, early-stage intersection realignments and engineering work continue near Highways 2 and 3.