How Alberta is spending $8.5B in Budget 2025 on transportation

Upgrades to Deerfoot Trail in Calgary and a highway to connect Fort McMurray to Grande Prairie in northern Alberta are among the projects the provincial government has highlighted in its budget.

Alberta's 2025 budget, if passed, slates nearly $8.5 billion toward various transportation and economic corridor projects to improve roads, bridges and water infrastructure around the province. It doles out $2.1 billion for Calgary-area projects, $2 billion in the Edmonton area, and more than $4 billion for other transportation undertakings around the rest of the province.

Alberta Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen noted the increased investment in transportation infrastructure is designed to boost economic development and attract investment.

In Calgary, the $2.1 billion includes more than a billion dollars in funding for Calgary LRT projects, like the long-embattled Green Line project and $5 million to support planning work to connect the Blue Line LRT to the airport. It also includes $484.8 million to upgrade Deerfoot Trail.

In the Calgary region, the funding over the next three years in transportation and economic corridor projects includes:

• $100 million for the Calgary ring road (west Stoney Trail).
• $62.4 million for the Springbank off-stream reservoir, a flood mitigation effort redirecting water from the Elbow River into a dry reservoir.
• $26.5 million to complete the Stoney Trail and Airport Trail interchange.
• $11.9 million for the proposed Bow River Reservoir.
• $8 million to complete the Highway 201 Bow River Bridge on southeast Stoney Trail.

Work to upgrade several parts of Deerfoot Trail, a major Calgary freeway, first started in 2022, with an eye to introduce extra lanes, new bridges and revamped interchanges.

With a booming population around the province, Business Council of Alberta vice-president Scott Crockatt said the infrastructure planning throughout the next three years is welcome to keep up with that growth. He highlighted Deerfoot Trail as a significant part of the province in need of more funding as more people move to Calgary.

He also particularly pointed to further funding earmarked to study an LRT connection to the Calgary airport as an important element of this year's budget.

"Calgary is one of the best-connected mid-sized cities in all of North America, and this is merely one of the key missing links in our puzzle," Crockatt said.

Dreeshen noted the province is waiting for the federal government to approve the new business case for the Green Line project. Once that's completed, he said, the province and city will be able to send tenders to begin laying tracks soon afterward.

In the Edmonton area, the budget invested $2 billion throughout the next three years via:

• $52.7 million for the Terwillegar Drive expansion project through improvements to the Anthony Henday Drive interchange, and $31 million to widen Terwillegar Drive.
• $40.2 million for an interchange at the QEII Highway and 65th Avenue in Leduc.
• $31.9 million to expand Ray Gibbon Drive.
• $20.3 million for safety improvements to Highway 16A and Range Road 20, an intersection that's been the site of dozens of collisions west of Stony Plain.
• $17.2 million to twin Highway 19, south of Edmonton, which has also previously been a safety concern.

The Alberta government also announced provincial funding for extending Highway 686, to link Fort McMurray to Grande Prairie. Improving Highway 686 was part of Dreeshen's mandate letter in 2023, and it will cross hundreds of kilometres to connect two major regions in Alberta's energy industry.

"That's a game changer for the north," Dreeshen said. "It not only opens up oil and gas and forestry operations, but it also gives that secondary access in and out of Fort McMurray in the case of a fire or flood ever happening again."

Other major transportation projects receiving funding around the province include:

• $208 million to twin Highway 11 between Sylvan Lake and Rocky Mountain House.
• $141 million for safety and road improvements on Highway 881.
• $127 million for capital improvements on Highway 60.
• $106 million to twin Highway 3 between Taber and east of Burdett.
• $101 million to twin Highway 63, north of Fort McMurray.
• $92 million to replace the Balzac interchange at Highway 566 over the QEII Highway.
• $87 million to construct the La Crete bridge, spanning the Peace River along Highway 697.
• $69 million to widen Highway 40 between Hinton and Grande Cache.
• $24 million to upgrade Highway 1A.
• $9 million for the interchange ramp for the QEII Highway and 40th Avenue near Airdrie.
• $7 million to extend Highway 956 from La Loche, Sask., to Fort McMurray.