Banff National Park of Canada

Park Management

Table of Contents | Introduction | Current Twinning | Highway Fencing & Wildlife Crossings

Trans-Canada Highway Twinning Project, Phase IIIB - June 2005

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Traffic volumes are high and continue to rise annually on the Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) through Canada’s first national park. This situation impacts human safety, the flow of goods, and safe, unimpeded wildlife movement. Upgrading to a four-lane highway has been chosen as the best means to improve conditions for both people and wildlife. Twinning has occurred in stages since 1981. The most recent 10-km stage is underway east of Lake Louise. By late 2007, this additional twinning will contribute to safer travel for people and the smoother flow of goods. Highway fencing will help reduce road kill. Wildlife crossing structures and other design features will help maintain or restore vital ecological flows — be they waterways or the movement of fish and other wildlife.

Trees were removed for new lanes
© Parks Canada

Project Update

• Approval of the final project plan and subsequent release of the entire $50.0 million budget was received in May 2005. This allows 10 km of twinning with mitigations starting east of Lake Louise.
• Additionally, the project includes construction of 7.5 km highway fencing extending west of Lake Louise. Over the entire 17.5 km fenced section, eight wildlife crossings structures will be built: two 60-m wide overpasses; a 35-m wide bridge underpass (Bow River); a 20-m underpass; and four 7-m wide underpasses. A number of 1-m wide ‘dry’ culverts will also help small animals to cross the newly twinned 10-km section.
• Trees were cleared over winter to avoid disturbing migratory birds that seasonally nest along waterways. Some trees were sold to help defray the project’s costs, while stumps will be chipped and composted to create soil for recovering disturbed areas along the highway. The Siksika Nation will also use some trees for tipi poles and associated traditional ceremonies.
• Refinements to the original twinning design include a slight shift in lane alignment at a couple of curves. This adjustment prevents the need for high cuts or retaining walls and creates slightly gentler curves to improve driver safety. It also results in cost savings; improves one animal crossing; and trims a few hectares off the project’s footprint.
• Design refinements for several bridge and crossing structures were also made. For example, the new Moraine Creek bridge will be located south of the existing TCH rather than north of it. This bringssafety benefits, better accommodates the river’s natural flow, and benefits nesting harlequin ducks. Also, the new and longer Bow River bridge has been designed to fully span the river to avoid fishery impacts.
• A pedestrian underpass at the west end of Lake Louise is under consideration based on feedback from townsite residents and community council.
• Through funding from Parks Canada and partnerships with several North American Foundations and Montana’s Western Transportation Institute, DNA research is being planned at the existing crossing structures. Animal hairs snagged with sticky string and barbed wire provide the DNA. DNA profiling will help identify which individual animals within a population are contributing to gene flow, and ensure that population connectivity is maintained or restored by the crossing mitigations.
• When the TCH was built in the mid-1950s, many streams were rerouted to culverts under the highway. Current twinning will allow these streams to be restored to their original channels to regain their health and productivity. Their restored insect communities will feed fish, and birds such as dippers and harlequins in the Bow River.

Highway Pull-offs and Access

• Throughout 2005, Bow River canoe and kayak access will remain open to paddlers at the pull-off just east of Lake Louise. After twinning, access to the put-in will remain from both lanes.
• Likewise, access to the Lake Louise Overflow Campground will be unaffected this year. After twinning, access remains from both lanes. The Mt. Temple viewpoint will be closed this year. It will reopen in 2007 with access from the westbound lane.

Research and Monitoring

Yes, the existing wildlife crossing structures are working! Through the long-term data collected, animals continue to teach us how to build better fencing and crossing structures to meet their different lifestyle needs. This learning has gone into the current twinning project. Worldwide, other transportation engineers are also putting this learning on the ground.

Monitoring of wildlife crossings is vital to ensure they are improving the permeability of roads to animal movements, connecting habitats, and ultimately sustaining healthy populations over time. Species such as grizzly and black bears, cougars, elk, moose, and wolves are using the wildlife crossings with over 63,000 passages documented. New DNA research will shed further light on the effectiveness of the current wildlife crossings.

Unexpectedly, we’ve discovered that TCH monitoring serves as a unique, linear transect for monitoring wildlife populations in the park. It continues to reveal general population numbers and trends for many species – information needed to evaluate how well we’re managing for ecological integrity. With each passing year, the value of this data for conservation grows. For more information: Highway Mitigation Research in the Mountain Parks.

Overview of Twinning Project

Trans-Canada Highway Project Phase IIIB Crossing Structures
© Parks Canada

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