The Highway 43 project purpose was to create a bypass for traffic to go around Grande Prairie instead of going through the city core and causing congestion.
Getting around
Highway 43 opens to those looking to bypass Grande Prairie By Shayna Wiwierski
Those driving near Grande Prairie now have the option to bypass
The first stage of the project was completed in summer 2010, which
the city entirely instead of travelling through it.
involved four kilometres of four-lane divided highway from High-
The Highway 43 project, which officially opened to traffic on September 14, 2019, involved the construction of 12 kilometres of
way 2 westward to Range Road 63. This current project took traffic from there and got it around Grande Prairie, connecting west of the city back onto Highway 43. It also included a roundabout on a di-
four-lane divided highway between Range Road 63 and east of
vided highway at the intersection of Highway 43 and Range Road
Richmond Hill. It also involved a roundabout at Highway 43 and
63. The roundabout opened in September 2018.
Range Road 63, and three bridges crossing Bear Creek.
“We went and did the roundabout instead of putting something
Highway 43 is part of the CANAMEX corridor, which is used for
more traditional like traffic signals or a large expenditure like an
transporting goods across North America. Since the highway ran
interchange,” says Konowalyk. “We put the roundabout in… and it
through the city of Grande Prairie, the project’s purpose was to cre-
has done a fabulous job of moving traffic efficiently without creat-
ate a bypass for that traffic instead of going through the city core
ing a stop condition and the possibility for a T-bone intersection.”
and causing congestion.
The project was tendered in the middle of 2016 and construction
“It used to see 27,000 vehicles a day through the city, and a lot of that is heavy trucks,” says Ryan Konowalyk, regional director for Alberta Transportation in the Peace Region. “So, we wanted to get
started in the winter of 2016/2017. The total cost budgeted was $54 million and it was completely funded by the Province of Alberta.
outside that core and around the city, making movement more ef-
Greenfield Construction Ltd. were the general contractors on the
ficient.”
project and did a lot of the work themselves, including dirt moving,
52 Grande Prairie Construction Association
