Alberta Highway 63
 Highway 63 | ||||
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| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by the Ministry of Transportation and Economic Corridors | ||||
| Length | 443 km (275 mi) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end |   Highway 28 / Highway 829 southwest of Radway | |||
 Highway 18 Highway 55 Highway 881 Highway 69 | ||||
| North end | North of Fort MacKay | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | Canada | |||
| Province | Alberta | |||
| Specialized and rural municipalities | Thorhild No. 7 County, Athabasca County, Lac La Biche County, Wood Buffalo R.M. | |||
| Major cities | Fort McMurray | |||
| Villages | Boyle | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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Alberta Provincial Highway No. 63[1] is a north–south highway in northern Alberta, Canada. In the south, Highway 63 begins at its intersection with Highway 28 approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) southwest of Radway, passing through Boyle and Fort McMurray before ending approximately 16 km (9.9 mi) north of its second crossing of the Athabasca River near Fort MacKay.
Much of Highway 63 passes through boreal forest, although aspen parkland and farmland is predominant as far as Wandering River. The highway also passes through the Athabasca Oil Sands between Fort McMurray and Fort MacKay.
Highway 63 sees an increasingly high volume of traffic due to the growing oilsands industry in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, causing potentially serious transportation-related problems. Trucks carrying large equipment can cause traffic delays, since they can be large enough to occupy two traffic lanes. Most of the highway is two-lane undivided highway, with the exception of approximately 55 km (34 mi) from south of its intersection with Highway 881 through Fort McMurray to south of Fort MacKay. It is also the only all-weather road leading out of Fort McMurray, which makes it a critical link to the growing community.
After years of both public and political pressure, the provincial government has announced in February 2006[2] that it would begin twinning the entire two-lane portion of the highway to a four-lane divided standard from Atmore to just south of Fort McMurray. The twinning began in 2006 and will take at least five years to complete.[3]
As of October 2009, the twinning of approximately 16 km (9.9 mi) of this 240 km (150 mi) corridor had been completed,[4] with another 16 km (9.9 mi) expected to be graded by fall 2011.[5]
Between 2001 and 2005, over 1,000 crashes occurred Highway 63 in which 25 people were killed and 257 others were injured.[6]
Major intersections
References
- ^ Provincial Highways Designation Order, Alberta Transportation, p. 9
- ^ Alberta Government announcement
- ^ Government of Alberta - Infrastructure project
- ^ The Oil Sands Developers Group- Transportation Fact Sheet: October 2009.
- ^ Alberta Transportation- Highway 63 twinning will resume: March 2010.
- ^ "Multi-vehicle crash on Highway 63 kills 2". CBC News. 2008-03-29. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
External links
- 2010 Provincial Highways 1 - 216 Series Progress Chart (map, 8 MB) by Alberta Transportation.
- [http://twin63.ca Twin Highway 63 Support Site by Twin63.ca.
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