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.

'A complete violation of my moral code'

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.

McIntyre and Field are concerned that despite having voiced their concerns, it appears a push for commercial development will trump a goal of fully preserving a place of cultural and natural significance.

"I know intimately the stories of the living and the dead, the ones who survived, the ones who didn't, and where they were, and what they were doing," said Field, who was a long-time manager of the interpretive Centre.

"It's incredibly emotional. It's sacred. So to me, this is just a complete violation of my moral code, and I would think society's moral code. And yet, I find there's a strange apathy. I think part of it is, people just don't know."

Jesse Furber, a spokesperson with Alberta's transportation and economic corridors department, says there has been extensive engagement throughout the Crowsnest Pass on the twinning plans. Furber adds the agency is aware of the sensitivity of the Frank Slide site, noting a functional planning study was completed in 2019.

That study states that among other environmental constraints under consideration, recommended plans would see disturbance to the Frank Slide as being "minimal."

"As the project moves forward to the detailed design phase, a review of the functional plan will occur, which may result in slight refinements in the final design," Furber wrote in an email.

On mitigation of impact

Of course, the effects on the Frank Slide site aren't the only concerns when it comes to such a large infrastructure project.

The province's 2019 study states that other concerns include impacts to known westslope cutthroat trout habitat, ecological and publicly important wetland between Blairmore and Coleman, and various historical and socioeconomic considerations, as well as impacts to First Nations.

"This place has been inhabited by many different people for thousands of years. And we really need to take that into consideration when planning a project like this," said Francisco Uribe, an associate professor at the University of Calgary's School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. 

Uribe helped lead a 2021 student study that partnered with the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass to examine challenges in the region, including challenges associated with Highway 3.

He said there's no question that construction will have some impact on areas like the Frank Slide. Mitigating that impact will require revisiting some provincial highway standards, in his view.

"There are techniques of separating yourself from the ground if you need to. Will this be more expensive? Yes, in terms of immediate capital costs. But I think it's an important investment to have the least amount of impact in these very sensitive areas," he said, citing highway development in other areas where space is limited, such as the Rocky Mountains.

There's also concern that where highways open up potential land for redevelopment for commercial use, tourism in small communities may suffer.

"The small shops and main street commercial doesn't survive competition from highway commercial. There needs to be management of that," he said. 

After the first phase of construction from Taber to Burdett is complete, subsequent phases will follow, which the province says are in various stages of development, including consultation, planning and design, land acquisition and environmental assessment.

When asked about concerns around tourism in small communities, Furber, the transportation spokesperson, said highway signs will provide information to motorists of all services available in adjacent communities.

He said that with the exception of Coleman, most of the highway will remain on the existing alignment.

"Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors considers many options as we move through the planning phases, and we must weigh the benefits at the time of detailed design," Furber wrote in an email.