Banff National Park of Canada

Park Management

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

Trans-Canada Highway Twinning Project
Phase IIIB: September 2006

Printable Version (PDF, 493 Kb)

Though a booming construction industry and associated rising costs continue to challenge the scope and schedule of this project, the upgrade of a 6 km segment of highway east of Lake Louise from two lanes to a four lane divided highway is taking shape. The 50 million dollar project is being carefully managed to meet its three goals: to improve motorist safety; to reduce highway wildlife mortality and habitat fragmentation; and to improve the flow of goods and services on Canada’s national highway.

• TCH work schedule
• map and images

Contractors will complete the majority of work on four new bridge structures in the new traffic lanes this fall:

• Canadian Pacific (CP) Rail highway bridge
• Bow River bridge
• 25-m wide wildlife underpass (near Overflow Campground)
• Moraine Creek bridge

A 4-m x 7-m elliptical culvert wildlife underpass is under construction near the east end of the twinning project. A second will be installed under the two-lane highway near the project’s west end as well.

Completion of highway grading for the new lanes is anticipated before winter freeze-up. Final grading and paving will now occur in spring 2007 due to delays related to bitumen supply. Bitumen is a black, tar-like petroleum substance used to bind aggregate together.

Traffic will shift from the existing lanes to the new lanes in mid-summer 2007 upon completion of the new bridges and paving of the new lanes.

Once traffic shifts to the new lanes, work on the existing highway bridges (CP Rail, Bow River, Moraine Creek), and the twin to the new 25-m wildlife underpass can begin.

The old CP Rail bridge will be demolished and rebuilt to match its twin. The existing Bow River bridge will have a 30 metre extension built so it matches its new counterpart.

Bridge work for 2007 will be tendered this fall to ensure the girders required get into the current 3 - 5 month precasting production line backlog.

Along with lags in bitumen delivery, the growing production timeline for girders is a result of the high product demand in the construction industry. This has put pressure on the project’s schedule and budget.

Highway fencing is underway west of the Icefields Parkway interchange. This fence section pilots new methods for installation and other design changes. It’s part of a 5-km highway fence extending west of the 6-km twinning segment. This moves the fence end west of Lake Louise to ensure wildlife, particularly grizzly bears, aren’t funneled into the hamlet.

The design process for the remaining highway fencing and associated Texas gates will begin this fall/winter with installation starting late next year.

A 60-m wide wildlife overpass will be built between Lake Louise and the Icefields Parkway Interchange to connect vital habitats on each side of this fenced two-lane highway section.

Rock blasting west of Harry’s Hill (Lake Louise) will take place this winter to accommodate overpass construction and a traffic detour required to build the wildlife overpass in 2007.

All remaining bridge and lane work will be completed by early 2008 allowing all four lanes to go into service by mid-summer 2008.

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