Alberta provincial highway 43

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Highway 43 is the main Albertan highway stretching from the Yellowhead just directly west of Edmonton to the Alberta/British Columbia provincial border. The highway has been designated as a part of the CANAMEX Corridor.

The provincial government is currently twinning the entire stretch of Highway 43 to a four-lane divided highway from the intersection with the Yellowhead Highway at Beach Corner to the Alberta/BC border. The twinning to Grande Prairie is expected to be complete by 2009, with several sections of it being twinned simultaneously. As of April 2006, there were three sections totaling 97 km two way highway left ( (58 km around Valleyview, 21 km around Little Smoky and 18 km around Mayerthorpe).^[1]

The twinning from Grande Prairie to the Alberta/BC border is not expected to be completed until 2012 or thereafter, although a section from Grande Prairie west to Wembley is already twinned. Highway 43 was (and still is) one of Alberta's most dangerous highways, especially where there are still two-lane stretches not yet twinned. This is due to large animals such as moose and elk, high traffic volumes, careless driving around large vehicles such as logging trucks, speeding motorists and construction. The rapid economic growth of Grande Prairie and area, safety concerns and the CANAMEX trade corridor designation pushed the need for twinning.

A partial cloverleaf interchange is already completed at Four Mile Corner (not a settlement, but rather an informal name used widely by locals for the intersection of Highways 2 and 43) a few kilometres north of Grande Prairie, with another expected to go up in the west side of the city in conjunction with a planned Highway 43X bypass. The proposed bypass has yet to receive funding and the go-ahead for construction despite the urgent need to supplant the current bypass in the northwest side of Grande Prairie because of rapidly rising traffic volumes. The current northwest bypass, built in the late 1960s, is increasingly no longer functioning as a true bypass for that reason as well as traffic lights being set up at intersections along the current bypass.

Prior to the late 1990s, Highway 43 was three separately numbered highways, although the entire highway was constructed and paved from the early to late 1950s: Highway 2 from the Alberta/BC border to Four Mile Corner, a few kilometres north of Grande Prairie, Highway 34 from Four Mile Corner to Valleyview, and the original designated stretch of Highway 43 from Valleyview to the Yellowhead Highway. The current designation was needed to avoid confusion in light of the CANAMEX Corridor establishment and its importance as a major highway route to Grande Prairie and the Peace Region.

[edit] Mile by mile

The highway begins at the provincial border between Alberta and BC, where British Columbia provincial highway 2 ends just northwest of the hamlet of Demmit.

0 km	Alberta-British Columbia border	55°28′50.00″N, 120°00′00″W
7 km	Passes through Demmit	55°27′26.5″N, 119°53′50.5″W
20 km	Highway 59 branches off to the east	55°23′56.59″N, 119°43′03.49″W
33 km	Crosses Highway 672 at Hythe	55°19′49.62″N, 119°32′59.38″W
41 km	Highway 671 branches off to the west at Albright	55°15′28.2″N, 119°29′12.8″W
48 km	Highway 722 branches off to the south at Beaverlodge	55°12′27.64″N, 119°25′32.52″W
60 km	Highway 667 branches off to the west at Huallen	55°10′14.6″N, 119°19′39.4″W
68 km	Highway 724 branches off to the north at Wembley	55°10′11.66″N, 119°09′08.71″W
91 km	Reaches Grande Prairie where Highway 40 branches to the south	55°10′14.06″N, 118°49′13.72″W
93 km	Turns north onto the current bypass, goes northeast, and turns north once again	55°10′09.56″N, 118°47′42.65″W
100 km	Highway 2 branches off to the north at Four Mile Corner while Highway 43 goes east	55°13′31.70″N, 118°47′41.76″W
127 km	Passes by Bezanson	55°13′54.85″N, 118°22′24.90″W
135 km	Crosses the Smoky River	55°14′12.92″N, 118°15′35.05″W
143 km	The Forestry Trunk Road Highway 734 branches off to the south	55°12′47.17″N, 118°10′46.38″W
151 km	Highway 736 branches off to the north at DeBolt	55°12′08.22″N, 118°03′13.58″W
159 km	Passes through Crooked Creek	55°09′01.47″N, 117°49′24.02″W
170 km	Passes by Sturgeon Heights	55°05′09.34″N, 117°40′00.87″W
179 km	Passes by Calais	55°03′40.26″N, 117°30′49.17″W
196 km	Highway 49 branches off to the north at Valleyview	55°03′41.01″N, 117°16′50.35″W
235 km	Highway 745 branches off to Little Smoky	54°44′13.43″N, 117°10′09.74″W
282 km	Passes by Fox Creek	54°23′36.50″N, 116°48′30.83″W
356 km	Highway 32 branches off to the north	54°11′11.16″N, 115°47′11.37″W
364 km	Highway 32 branches off to the south as it goes through Whitecourt	54°08′17.24″N, 115°42′13.47″W
389 km	Crosses Highway 751	54°04′04.84″N, 115°24′03.38″W
391 km	Highway 658 branches off to the north	54°03′49.39″N, 115°21′49.32″W
426 km	Highway 18 branches off to the east at Green Court	54°00′18.96″N, 115°14′36.04″W
436 km	Crosses Highway 22 (The Cowboy Trail) at Mayerthrope	53°56′41.07″N, 115°08′19.18″W
443 km	Highway 654 branches off to the north	53°53′43.57″N, 114°54′20.37″W
444 km	Passes by Rochfort Bridge	53°54′23.77″N, 115°01′05.79″W
454 km	Highway 757 branches off to the south and passes by Sangudo	55°09′01.47″N, 117°49′24.02″W
471 km	Highway 764 branches off to the north at Cherhill	53°49′11.30″N, 114°40′43.61″W
477 km	Highway 765 branches off to the south near Glenevis	53°47′57.95″N, 114°35′40.19″W
496 km	Highway 33 branches off to the north at Gunn	53°43′49.04″N, 114°20′31.62″W
504 km	Highway 37 branches off to the east while Highway 43 turns south near Onoway	53°42′57.30″N, 114°14′58.28″W
520 km	Ends at Highway 16 at Beach Corner	53°34′15.49″N, 114°13′47.05″W

[edit] See also

			Alberta Provincial Primary Highways v • d • e
1	1A	1X	2	2A	3	3A	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	11A	12	13	13A	14	15	16	16A	17	18	19
20	20A	21	22	22X	23	24	25	26	27	28	28A	30	31	32	33	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	41A	42	43	44
45	47	49	50	52	53	54	55	56	58	59	60	61	62	63	64	64A	66	68	69	72	88	93	93A	100	201	216

[edit] References