Worries about historic Frank Slide site rekindled by new timeline for highway twinning

The first phase of twinning of Alberta's Highway 3, a plan frequently delayed, is finally set to kick off in spring 2024.

That's a long-awaited development for proponents of economic development in the region, but an unnerving one for those who worry about the project's potential impact on historic landmarks.

Timelines for the project have shifted on multiple occasions.

The provincial government first announced plans to twin a 46-kilometre stretch of the highway, between Taber and Burdett, in 2020. That stretch is scheduled to be the first of eight planned phases along the highway, totalling 215 kilometres of highway.

Advocates for the project have long argued that completing the project will lead to increased safety, economic development and tourism in the region.

For around two decades, the Highway 3 Twinning Development Association has been pushing for the project to move forward. The association includes business organizations, construction companies and a dozen municipalities, such as Lethbridge and Crowsnest Pass.

Bill Chapman, president of the association, said there has been a major increase in traffic volumes in the region in recent years, and the region has also been tapped as a potential premier agri-food sector.

"We know that there's a real need to twin the whole corridor, rather than just portions," he said.

"Economic corridors are really important to the province of Alberta. And this economic corridor is really vital, not only as a secondary route for moving goods and services across our province, but even a primary."

Others have been closely watching for months for details to be released about certain areas of that highway they feel construction will put at risk.

Motorists who frequently travel through the Crowsnest Pass are likely familiar with the 120-year-old Frank Slide. In 1903, a rockslide from Turtle Mountain buried the town of Frank, Alta., killing at least 90 people, making it the deadliest landslide in Canadian history.

Earlier this year, a couple who formerly managed the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre expressed their concerns about the road project.

David McIntyre and his wife, Monica Field, told The Canadian Press they were worried the highway twinning would "desecrate" the Frank Slide.

Speaking to CBC News in November, McIntyre said various people have reached out to the two to add their concern. The two have been advocating for an alternative highway that would conform mostly to the existing highway's footprint.