Alberta Highways - AB 43X




Alberta uses the letter "X" to signify "one day we will be able to remove the 'X'." Since I took these photos in 2013, the AB 43X stub expressway was completed* down to AB 43 and has now officially become AB 43 itself, bypassing Grande Prairie. The asterisk* is because technically, the high-speed EB through movement remains to be constructed, so AB 43 EB must wait patiently to make a left turn at a T intersection. For now. I can forgive that in the interest of getting the rest of the roadway open. I can and will quibble, however, with converting the at-grade Range Road 63 intersection to a roundabout. A roundabout has no place on a high-speed expressway bypass. We're not Europe or South America, and that road has minimal traffic so far. Back to these photos, you are witnessing something remarkable: a 4-lane divided expressway instantly becoming into a dirt road.


Here we go, AB 43X leaves the WB carriageway, crosses over the EB carriageway, and that's the end of pavement. Township Rd. 722, dead ahead, and its RV park have been dug an alternate path through crop fields to get to Range Rd. 63. It's okay, the farms will all become developments soon, or so Grande Prairie seems to be betting.


Not wanting to soil my tires, I turn back around and immediately come to Range Rd. 63. There's not much interesting ahead, so have one last look behind me at the EB roadway getting violated by the crossing WB roadway.

Parent AB 43

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