Alberta Highway 43
Alberta Provincial Highway No. 43, commonly referred to as Highway 43, is a major highway in northern and central Alberta, Canada that connects Edmonton to the British Columbia border via the Peace Country, forming the northernmost portion of the CANAMEX Corridor in Alberta. It stretches approximately 495 km (308 mi) from Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) near Manly Corner west of Edmonton to the British Columbia border west of Demmitt.[2][3] It is designated as a core route in Canada's National Highway System, comprising a portion of a key international corridor that stretches from Alaska into Mexico.
Highway 43 was originally numbered Highway 17, a short gravel road that ran only from Highway 16 to Onoway. It was later extended to Whitecourt and renumbered as Highway 43 in the 1940s, and an extension to Valleyview had been completed by the mid-1950s. In 1991 the highway was extended to included a portion of the existing Highway 34 from Valleyview to Donnelly, but was revised in 1998 to turn west through Grande Prairie, forming a contiguous route from Manly Corner to the border. Due to increasing traffic levels and the province's greater plan to upgrade their portion of the CANAMEX Corridor, work began in the 2000s to twin the entire length of the highway. The Edmonton–Grande Prairie section was completed in summer 2014,[4] and construction began in 2016 on an expressway bypass to the northwest of Grande Prairie. Planning is underway for the remaining section between the BC border and Beaverlodge.
Highway 43 begins west of Demmitt at the British Columbia border and runs through Grande Prairie, Valleyview, and Whitecourt to Highway 16 near Manly Corner west of Edmonton.[1]
The history of Highway 43 dates back to the late 1920s or early 1930s. It was originally numbered Highway 17 and, by 1932, it spanned approximately 17 km from Highway 16 to Onoway. By 1938, Highway 17 (now 43) had been extended to Sangudo and it had reached Whitecourt via a jagged alignment with numerous 90° jogs by 1940. Sometime between 1942 and 1946, the highway was renumbered to Highway 43. The former number was transferred to Highway 17 that straddles the Alberta/Saskatchewan provincial boundary north and south of Lloydminster.[5][6]
By 1952, extension of Highway 43 from Whitecourt to Valleyview was well underway. The segment of the highway from Valleyview to Little Smoky was complete, while the segment from Whitecourt to Two Creeks was under construction. The next segment of the highway, from Little Smoky to west of Giroux Lake, opened a year later. In 1954, the connecting segment of Highway 43 between west of Giroux Lake and Two Creeks was under construction. Meanwhile, paving of the highway between Highway 16 and Gunn was complete.
The final segment of Highway 43 between Whitecourt and Valleyview was officially completed in 1955 and a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in the Iosegun River valley, approximately 20 km southeast of Fox Creek. The completion of the highway provided the south Peace Region of northwest Alberta, particularly Grande Prairie and Valleyview, with a more direct and significantly shorter route to Edmonton. It also slightly shortened the driving distance from Peace River to Edmonton once the Highway 34 realignment north of Valleyview was completed by 1959. An aggressive paving program began shortly after the highway was completed. Paving began northwest of Whitecourt and south of Valleyview. By 1960, the entire length of the highway was paved, which included a significant realignment between Whitecourt and Cottonwood Corner south of Blue Ridge and other minor realignments between Cottonwood Corner and Gunn to smooth out the highway's numerous jogs.
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