Alberta Highway 9
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Highway 9 |
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Length: | 326 km (203 mi) | ||||
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West end: | Alberta Highway 1 near Chestermere | ||||
Major junctions: |
Hwy 72, Hwy 21, Hwy 56, Hwy 36, Hwy 41 | ||||
East end: | Saskatchewan border, Saskatchewan Highway 7 | ||||
Major cities: | Drumheller, Hanna | ||||
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Highway 9 is an East-West highway through south-central Alberta. It spans from the Alberta-Saskatchewan border to Highway 1 a few km east of the city of Calgary. The highway starts at the Trans-Canada Highway, about midway between Calgary and Strathmore and proceeds in a more-or-less easterly direction to the Saskatchewan border, where it becomes Highway 7.
Located south of Highway 12, it runs parallel to it. From East to West it begins a few km west of Alsask, and passes through Sibbald, just north of Oyen (where it crosses Highway 41), through Cereal (where it crosses Highway 886), Chinook, Youngstown (where it crosses Highway 884), Scotfield, Richdale, and Hanna (where it crosses Highway 36 to the east of Hanna). It continues west passing the entrance to Craigmyle, and Delia (where it crosses Highway 851). 24 km farther west it meets Highway 56 (just east of Morrin) and turns south through Munson to Drumheller where it turns west again to Beiseker (where it meets Highway 806 and Highway 72) and proceeds south through Irricana, Keoma, and Kathyrn until it meets Highway 1 about 20 km west of Strathmore.
Highway 9 is the primary connector between Calgary and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (the terminus of Sask. Highway 7), as well as to numerous bedroom communities of Calgary, such as Irricana and Beiseker. The major centres along Highway 9 are Drumheller and Hanna.
Over the past few years, the province of Alberta has executed a number of upgrades to the highway, widening shoulders and realigning the road (most recently just west of Drumheller, although the new alignment now bypasses the Horseshoe Canyon landmark as a result). As of 2007, however, the province has yet to twin any stretch of the busy highway, and there have been calls for interchanges to be built at its junctions with Highway 21 and the Trans-Canada due to the number of fatal automobile accidents that have happened at these locations.
As of 2007 a much needed, full scale interchange is currently being constructed where Highway 9 crosses the Trans-Canada Highway.
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