Lethbridge City Council shows continued support for Highway 3 twinning

Lethbridge City Council voted unanimously on Monday in favour of re-upping its membership with the Highway 3 Twinning Development Association.

The membership renewal comes with a $7,500 fee, and on Monday, Mayor Chris Spearman — along with a few of his councillors — questioned what that money would be supporting.

Victoria Chester, who was appointed as the association’s director of advancement in May, was on hand to field questions from council, along with Bill Chapman, who is both the president of the Highway 3 Twinning Development Association and a Coaldale town councillor.

City council was also presented with the association’s operational plan and strategic plan. Chapman answered questions regarding the areas of highest priority along the highway, saying that the portion closest to the British Columbia border is top priority. He said that is the area that suffers from the most bottlenecking.

Following the presentation, Spearman said that the importance of Highway 3 to Lethbridge and the surrounding area cannot be understated.

“Highway 3 is a major highway through the city of Lethbridge,” he said.

“It’s unfortunate that it hasn’t been twinned by now,” Spearman added. “It needs to have a higher priority in the region. The City of Lethbridge recognizes there are significant deficiencies with Highway 3.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's unfortunate that it hasn't been twinned by now," Spearman added. "It needs to have a higher priority in the region. The City of Lethbridge recognizes there are significant deficiencies with Highway 3.

“When funding announcements for highways were announced in April of 2017, nothing was announced for Highway 3, but funding was announced for highways across the province,” Spearman said.

The mayor added that by continuing to support the Highway 3 Twinning Development Association, along with other southern Alberta municipalities, they would hope that action could be taken.