Alberta Highway 28

Highway 28
Highway 28 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by Alberta Transportation
Length	293 km[1] (182 mi)
Major junctions
West end	Highway 216 in Edmonton
Major intersections	Highway 37 at Namao Highway 28A near Gibbons Highway 38 in Redwater Highway 63 near Radway Highway 36 from Vilna to Ashmont Highway 41 from Hoselaw to Bonnyville Highway 55 in Cold Lake
East end	Lakeshore Drive in Cold Lake
Location
Country	Canada
Province	Alberta
Specialized and rural municipalities	Sturgeon County, Thorhild County, Smoky Lake County, St. Paul No. 19 County, Bonnyville No. 87 M.D.
Major cities	Edmonton, Cold Lake
Towns	Bon Accord, Gibbons, Redwater, Smoky Lake, Bonnyville
Villages	Waskatenau, Vilna
Highway system
Alberta Provincial Highway Network List Former
← Highway 27 → Highway 28A

Highway 28 is a 286-kilometre (178 mi) highway in north-central Alberta, Canada that connects Edmonton to Cold Lake.^[2] The highway is a component of Canada's National Highway System. Between Highway 28A near Gibbons and the intersection with Highway 63 near Radway, it forms part of the Northeast Alberta Trade Corridor and is designated as a core route.^[3] For the remainder of the route from Radway to the eastern end at Cold Lake, it is designated as a feeder route.^[4]

Route description

Highway 28 begins at the intersection of 97 Street and Anthony Henday Drive (Highway 216), Edmonton's ring road, at the north end of the city.^[5] It enters Sturgeon County, passing CFB Edmonton and Bon Accord. After merging with Highway 28A near Gibbons it travels in a northeasterly direction through Redwater and intersects Highway 63 just west of Radway. It continues east and winds through agricultural lands of north-central Alberta, roughly paralleling the North Saskatchewan River, passing through Waskatenau and Smoky Lake. It intersects Highway 36 near Vilna, and shares a 36-kilometre (22 mi) concurrency to Ashmont. At Hoselaw, it intersects Highway 41 and shares a 18-kilometre (11 mi) concurrency to Bonnyville.^[6] Highway 28 continues east to Beaver Crossing, where it intersects Highway 55, about 14 kilometres (9 mi) west of the Saskatchewan border; the two routes turn north and share a 10-kilometre (6 mi) wrong-way concurrency and enter the City of Cold Lake where they connect Cold Lake South (the former town of Grand Centre) with Cold Lake North. After Highway 55 leaves the route, it runs northeast and ends at Lakeshore Drive along the shores of Cold Lake.^[1]

History

Highway 28 began as a short highway travelling north out of Downtown Edmonton to Namao, ending in the Gibbons and Coronado area. Highway 28 started at Jasper Avenue (Highway 15 east and Highway 16 west) and followed 100 Street and 101 Street to Norwood Boulevard, cosigned with Highway 16. The routes split and Highway 16 continued east to 86 Street and Fort Road and Highway 28 continued north on 97 Street.^[7] In c. 1940, the Highway 15 & 16 designations were switched east of Edmonton, resulting in Highway 28 sharing a concurrency Highway 15 in Downtown Edmonton.^[8] Highway 28 was extended northeastward, connected to St. Paul in mid-1940s^[9] and Cold Lake in the early 1950s.^[10] In 1961, a more direct route between Ashmont and Hoselaw was constructed and designated as Highway 28A; construction of the highway required splitting Mann Lake in two, creating Upper and Lower Mann Lake.^[11] Work continued on paving the route throughout the 1960s, and by the end of the decade the route was fully paved between Edmonton and Cold Lake.^[12]

When Highway 16 was moved to Yellowhead Trail in the 1980s, the Highway 28 designation was removed from city streets south the roadway and its new southern terminus was at the 97 Street / Yellowhead Trail intersection.^[13] In 2006, as part of an effort to simplify highway route numbering in the St. Paul area, Highway 28 was rerouted to Highway 28A to formalize the more contiguous route between Edmonton and Cold Lake, while Highway 28 through St. Paul was re-signed to be part of Highway 29.^[14] In 2016, Anthony Henday Drive was completed^[15] and in subsequent years the official Highway 28 designation was removed from 97 Street inside the ring road.^[5]

Future

Alberta Transportation ultimately intends to upgrade the entire Edmonton-Fort McMurray corridor to a divided highway, which would include twinning of Highway 28 from Highway 28A to Highway 63.^[18]

Major intersections

Rural/specialized municipality	Location	km[1]	mi	Destinations	Notes
City of Edmonton		−7.3	−4.5	Yellowhead Trail (Highway 16 (TCH/YH)) – Lloydminster, Jasper	Single-point urban interchange; Highway 16 exit 389; former Highway 28 southern terminus
		0.0	0.0	Anthony Henday Drive (Highway 216)	Interchange; Highway 216 exit 39
Sturgeon County	​	0.8	0.50	Former Highway 28A north	Interchange permanently closed and removed
		4.7	2.9	Sturgeon Road	Access to CFB Edmonton
	Namao	8.0	5.0	Highway 37 – Onoway, Fort Saskatchewan
	​	17.8	11.1	Highway 642 west – Morinville
		20.4	12.7	Highway 803 north	Directional signage changes from north/south to east/west
	Bon Accord	25.7	16.0
	Gibbons	39.9	24.8	Highway 28A south – Edmonton	Trumpet interchange; south end of Northeast Alberta Trade Corridor
	​	32.6	20.3	Highway 651 west – Legal
	Redwater	52.6	32.7	Highway 38 east (48 Avenue) – Bruderheim, Two Hills
Thorhild County	​	62.6	38.9	Highway 827 north – Egremont, Thorhild, Athabasca
		69.1	42.9	Highway 63 north – Lac La Biche, Fort McMurray Highway 829 south – Redwater	North end of Northeast Alberta Trade Corridor
	Radway	75.3	46.8	UAR 158 south
Smoky Lake County	​	85.7	53.3	Highway 831 – Boyle, Lamont
	Waskatenau	86.8	53.9	UAR 74 south
	Warspite	97.1	60.3	UAR 104 south
	Smoky Lake	108.4	67.4	Highway 855 – Caslan, Andrew, Mundare
		109.2	67.9	UAR 156 south
	​	131.7	81.8	Highway 857 south – Willingdon, Vegreville UAR 217 north – Bellis
		138.2	85.9	Highway 36 north – Lac La Biche	West end of Highway 36 concurrency
	Vilna	145.7	90.5	UAR 116 south
	​	147.0	91.3	Highway 859 south
	Spedden	159.2	98.9	PAR 120 north – Garner Lake Provincial Park
County of St. Paul No. 19	​	162.4	100.9	Highway 866 north
	Ashmont	169.4	105.3	Highway 36 south – St. Paul, Two Hills	East end of Highway 36 concurrency; Highway 28 formerly followed Highway 36 south to St. Paul; west end of former Highway 28A
	​	177.8	110.5	Highway 867 north
		191.1	118.7	Highway 881 – Therien, St. Vincent, St. Paul
M.D. of Bonnyville No. 87	​	199.2	123.8	Highway 882 north – Glendon
	Hoselaw	215.8	134.1	Highway 41 south – St. Paul, Elk Point, Vermilion	West end of Highway 41 concurrency; Highway 28 formerly followed Highway 41 south to St. Paul; east end of former Highway 28A
	​	226.0	140.4	UAR 96 west – Bonnyville Beach
Bonnyville		233.3	145.0	Highway 41 north (55 Street) – La Corey	East end of Highway 41 concurrency
		235.2	146.1	Highway 659 east (50 Avenue) – Lloydminster
M.D. of Bonnyville No. 87	​	239.9	149.1	Highway 660 west
	Ardmore	253.3	157.4	Highway 892
	Beaver Crossing	271.3	168.6	Crosses the Beaver River
	​	273.1	169.7	Highway 55 east – Pierceland, Meadow Lake, Prince Albert To Highway 897 south – Elizabeth Metis Settlement, Marwayne, Lloydminster	South end of Highway 55 wrong-way concurrency; formerly Highway 28X east
City of Cold Lake		278.3	172.9	50 Avenue / Centre Avenue – CFB Cold Lake	Former Highway 897
		283.3	176.0	Highway 55 west / 16 Avenue – Cold Lake Provincial Park, Lac La Biche	North end of Highway 55 wrong-way concurrency
		285.7	177.5	Lakeshore Drive	Highway 28 eastern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Closed/former       Concurrency terminus

References