Is an AB-63 NT-5 connection in the works?

[dvferyance]

AB-63 has been expanded recently so I was wondering if it's at least in the long range plans for it to go to the Northwest Territories. As of now there is only one highway from Alberta that reaches the Northwest Territories.

[Alps]

Nope.

[dvferyance]

Nope.

Seriously? They did all that expansion for a dead end road? Makes no sense but I would like to hear form another source that at least lives in that area instead of someone from New Jersey.

[NE2]

They did the expansion so they could fuck up the earth more quickly.

[AsphaltPlanet]

Nope.

Seriously? They did all that expansion for a dead end road? Makes no sense but I would like to hear form another source that at least lives in that area instead of someone from New Jersey.

They did all that work to serve Fort Mac.  There are no plans to extend Highway 63 beyond the oil sands.

[Alps]

Nope.

Seriously? They did all that expansion for a dead end road? Makes no sense but I would like to hear form another source that at least lives in that area instead of someone from New Jersey.

And fuck you too, buddy. I happen to know a lot about Canada.

[oscar]

Nope.

Seriously? They did all that expansion for a dead end road? Makes no sense but I would like to hear form another source that at least lives in that area instead of someone from New Jersey.

They did all that work to serve Fort Mac.  There are no plans to extend Highway 63 beyond the oil sands.

Fort McMurray is a hotbed of activity relating to oil sands development. So much so that its part of AB 63 includes a 10-lane freeway -- on which I got stuck in traffic during the afternoon rush. Not surprising that much of AB 63 was expanded to divided highway between Edmonton and Fort McMurray -- in part, as NE2 alludes to, to facilitate the transport of heavy equipment to the oil sands fields.

The lightly-populated area between where the oil sands end, and Fort Fitzgerald near the NT border (small community with an unpaved all-season road connection to NT 5 in Fort Smith NT), gets by mainly with a winter road featured in an "Ice Road Truckers" episode.

[formulanone]

Nope.

Seriously? They did all that expansion for a dead end road? Makes no sense but I would like to hear form another source that at least lives in that area instead of someone from New Jersey.

There isn't much north of the Athabascan Oil Sands. Much Wood-Buffalo is also a preserve. The next bit of civilization is over 200km north of that. Fort Mac is as big as it gets around there. After 5pm, AB-63 is packed...but only southbound.


AB63nRoad-WOOSHbus by formulanone, on Flickr


AB63nSign-SouthboundTraffic by formulanone, on Flickr

Then again, I'm just some jerk from Alabama.

[webfil]

They did the expansion so they could fuck up the earth more quickly.

I thought that the tar oil was the the cleanest, most ethical, environmentally-friendly energy in the world.

Fort Mac will not be a dead-end for long, but connected in a westward fashion rather than northward, filling the gap between both AB-686 sections.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_Highway_686#Future

[formulanone]

They did the expansion so they could fuck up the earth more quickly.

I thought that the tar oil was the the cleanest, most ethical, environmentally-friendly energy in the world.

Fort Mac will not be a dead-end for long, but connected in a westward fashion rather than northward, filling the gap between both AB-686 sections.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_Highway_686#Future

I've heard that the oil sands are actually some of the cleanest-to-produce/refine, yet some of the worst carbon-emitting fuels out there, and that's why most of it is exported instead of used in North America and Europe. Besides, Royal Dutch Shell has limited their involvement in Alberta's oil sands, so when one of the largest oil companies is winding down their operations, there's probably a reason. Of course, trying to post a balance of that here would be both off-topic and wind up with questionable results.

So, like most Politician Speak, a half-truth at best...can't have it both ways.

[dvferyance]

Nope.

Seriously? They did all that expansion for a dead end road? Makes no sense but I would like to hear form another source that at least lives in that area instead of someone from New Jersey.

And fuck you too, buddy. I happen to know a lot about Canada.

This is what makes me what to quit this forum. How do I terminate my profile here?

[AsphaltPlanet]

AB63nRoad-WOOSHbus by formulanone, on Flickr

That seems like a very precarious spot to be a cyclist.  I wonder if that's legal.  I know sometimes cyclists are permitted to use freeways, but isn't it more typical that they be forced to use the exit ramps in order to prevent situations such as this?  (I'm just asking rhetorically).

[Brandon]

Nope.

Seriously? They did all that expansion for a dead end road? Makes no sense but I would like to hear form another source that at least lives in that area instead of someone from New Jersey.

And fuck you too, buddy. I happen to know a lot about Canada.

This is what makes me what to quit this forum. How do I terminate my profile here?

Guys, both of you chill.

"It won't be extended northward as far as I know, as there really is nothing much north of Fort McMurray." - Steve; and "Thanks." - David.  That's all that had to be said, not any comments that are smarmy or liable to piss others off.

[dmuzika]

There are some proposals/suggestions/wishes for AB 63 to be extended to Fort Chipewyan, but nothing anytime soon. I have an old presentation about Alberta's Future Highway needs (dated December 2001), which identifies proposed links to Fort Chipewyan via both AB 63 from the south and AB 58 from the west (from High Level), but they would be within a 50 year time frame if pursued. The Northern [Alberta] Highways Strategy also identified an AB 63 extension to Fort Smith, NT, but nothing series is being discussed.

There is a winter road that connects the northern terminus of AB 63 with Fort Chipewyan (maintained by the Wood Buffalo RM) and the distances sign along AB 63 north lists both Fort Chipewyan and Fort Smith, so it might in the distant future. Fort Chipewyan is the largest community in Alberta that is inaccessible via an all-weather road, and a few years ago a mild winter (which closed the ice road early) lead to calls for an upgrade; future mild winters might expedite the need for an upgrade.

There was a plan to upgrade the winter road to La Loche, SK, and the Saskatchewan government build SK 956 (an all-weather gravel road) to the Alberta border in 2005, unfortunately Alberta didn't follow through in its upgrades. It seems that the province is more interested in extending AB 686 to form a western link to Fort McMurray, and with the 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire there have been calls to construct alternative routes to AB 63 for exiting the city - both of which would bump down a link to Fort Chip and Fort Smith.