However, this kind of thinking requires a lot of level ground and a good width for the right of way. The desire for this type of highway runs into tremendous difficulty when the land is not available or very expensive, the grades are mostly wrong, there are rivers and railroads to cross and road overpasses to build. If the distance is short, like in the Crowsnest Pass, the per kilometre cost of such a proposal becomes astronomical and delay becomes inevitable.
This is where the desire for the best solution becomes an enemy of a good solution. Highway #3 is no less a National Highway when it passes Fernie than when it passes the Crowsnest Pass. The only difference is that BC is not a prairie province with an abundance of flat land on which to build optimal highways. The engineers there have long recognized best solutions in a mountain environment are sometimes too difficult to achieve and, therefore, good solutions, such as urban four lanes, etc, must sometimes prevail.
I think the highway here will eventually be moved to south of the valley. Alberta Infrastructure has been patiently assembling land for the new alignment for the past thirty years. Recently, they spent a lot of money to buy over 100 acres of the former Coleman Collieries land, as well as, a smaller piece at the west end of Coleman.
The problem is not what they will do in the future, which is likely quite far off. The issue is that the optimal plan may be getting in the way of getting improvements that we need right now.
There are many improvements that can be made along the existing alignment to make the road safer and more efficient. I am sure the highway people in Lethbridge have a good list of these things. For one, we could use a climbing lane just west of the Volker Stevin yards; we could use some traffic lights and controlled pedestrian crossings. Perhaps an additional lane here and there, etc This would not only help the locals, but also create a safer and more efficient environment for the national traffic as it moves through this area.
Most of all, we need the highways department to come out and declare, and commit, to whatever plan they have chosen in order to create the economic certainty necessary for our development. With this done, we can work positively with the department on an interim good solution while we all wait for the best solution, which is the new highway alignment in the far off future.