Roads & Highways
Alberta has more than 20,000 km of paved roads and highways which form an extensive network throughout the province. First class arterial roads and highways connect to similar highways in adjacent provinces and the United States.
North - South Highways
The Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) Highway
- provides a north-south route through both Edmonton and Calgary
- links the Alaska Dempster Highway to Interstate Highway I-15 in Sweetgrass, Montana.
East - West Highways
The province is serviced by two east-west highways:
- Highway #1, the TransCanada through Calgary
- Highway #16, the TransCanada through Edmonton.
Both are part of Canada's coast-to-coast highway system.
Public Roads in Alberta
Responsibility for the 41,000 kilometres of paved roads is shared between the municipalities (26,000 kilometres) and the province (15,000 kilometres). These roads make up the principal arterial network used in both private and commercial motor transport.
There are over 181,000 kilometres of public roads in Alberta - approximately 20% of the total national network. When compared to all other provincial and territorial networks, this infrastructure ranks second only to Saskatchewan. Almost 140,000 kilometres of Alberta's public roads are gravel, treated or earthen, largely falling under municipal jurisdiction.
Roadway System in Canada
There are over 900,000 kilometres of two-lane public roads in Canada, making up the principal infrastructure for the domestic movement of passengers and freight. This vast network enables the annual movement of an estimated 400 million tonnes of freight.
Approximately 318,000 kilometres of this network are paved, with 17,000 kilometres (less than 2%) built to freeway standards.
Almost two-thirds of Canada's public roads (about 585,000 kilometres) are located outside the country's most densely populated areas. These roads are either gravel, treated or of earthen design. Significant to prairie agriculture, almost 400,000 kilometres of these unpaved roads (close to 70%) are located within the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Responsibility for building and maintaining public roads is divided between federal, provincial and municipal governments:
- The federal government manages less than 2% of this infrastructure
- Provincial and territorial governments maintain 25%
- Municipal governments are the largest stakeholders, controlling approximately 73% of roadways
National Highway System of Canada
- Canada's National Highway System - Map (PDF)
- Principal routes used in both interprovincial and international trade
- Totals approximately 24,400 route-kilometres and encompasses the 7,300 kilometre Trans Canada Highway
- Approximately 3,600 route-kilometres of Alberta highways are part of this network.
The National Highway System uses the most direct routes possible to connect all:
- provincial and territorial capitals (except Nunavut)
- major provincial population and commercial centers
- major ports of entry or exit with the United States highway system
U.S. - Canada Border
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Canadian and U.S. highway systems are connected at 32 border crossings, with 18 of these primary trade gateways
National Highway System of the United States
The U.S. highway system is the primary arterial network for moving passengers and freight throughout the country. It encompasses a network of approximately 260,000 route-kilometres. The cornerstone of this network is the U.S. Interstate Highway System, a transcontinental network with 75,000 kilometres of multi-laned, controlled-access infrastructure.
This system carries more than 20% of all American automobile and truck traffic.
Public Roads in the United States
The American public road network is significantly larger than Canada's, with approximately 6.4 million route-kilometres of public roads in the United States.
Like Canada, only 40% of the U.S. network is unpaved - mainly in the agricultural states of the mid-west. U.S. public roads are maintained by the local (75%), state (20%) and federal governments (5%).
Date Updated: Aug 12, 2008
RDP-1086