  Yellowhead Trail | |
|---|---|
| Highway 16 | |
 Yellowhead Trail highlighted in red | |
| Route information | |
| Maintained by theCity of Edmonton andStrathcona County | |
| Length | 24.6 km[1] (15.3 mi) |
| Major junctions | |
| West end | 231 Street |
| Major intersections | |
| East end |  Highway 216 |
| Location | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Alberta |
| Major cities | Edmonton |
| Highway system | |
Yellowhead Trail is a 24.6-kilometre (15.3 mi)expressway segment of theYellowhead Highway (Highway 16) in northernEdmonton,Alberta, Canada. It carries a significant amount of truck traffic to and from the industrial areas of north Edmonton and serves as a key commuter route for thebedroom communities ofStony Plain,Spruce Grove, andSherwood Park, carrying nearly 80,000vehicles per weekday in 2015.[2] A suburban bypass of the route was completed when the northeast leg ofAnthony Henday Drive (Highway 216) opened in late 2016, providing an alternate route through north Edmonton.
The Yellowhead Highway becomes Yellowhead Trail at Edmonton's westerly border, 231 Street. The ruraldivided highway meetsAnthony Henday Drive at a largeinterchange, crossing over theCanadian National Railway and veering slightly northeast through industrial areas of northwestern Edmonton. The expressway passes underneathSt. Albert Trail and past Canadian National's Walker Yard to97 Street. Bending south near the neighbourhood ofEastwood and back to the east, it intersectsWayne Gretzky Drive andVictoria Trail before descending across theNorth Saskatchewan River nearBeverly to a second large interchange with Anthony Henday Drive, at which the Yellowhead Trail designation ends and Highway 16 entersStrathcona County.
As a portion of the Yellowhead Highway, the expressway takes its name fromYellowhead Pass, through which Highway 16 passes from Alberta intoBritish Columbia. Construction was planned in the 1970s and was fully completed by 1984, receiving incremental improvements in subsequent decades; the route now includes a mix of signalized at-grade intersections and interchanges. Due to heavy congestion, Edmonton outlined a $1 billion plan in late 2016 to upgrade Yellowhead Trail to afreeway, eliminating at-grade intersections and constructing new interchanges. Work began in 2019 and is planned for completion in late 2027.
Designated as Highway 16 in all four provinces it traverses, the Yellowhead Highway is an interprovincial route that runs from the Pacific coast ofBritish Columbia through Alberta andSaskatchewan intoManitoba, ending in Winnipeg. It enters Alberta at Yellowhead Pass, travelling east into theEdmonton Capital Region as a four-lane rural divided highway that adopts the name "Yellowhead Trail" at 231 Street, marking the western Edmonton city limit.[1] The first interchange within the city is adiamond interchange at Winterburn Road; the divided highway then meets theAnthony Henday Drive ring road at a largecombination interchange. Widening to six lanes, Yellowhead assumes the unsigned designation of northboundHighway 2 from Henday and passes underneath 184 Street and over theCanadian National Railway, veering slightly northeast into the Armstrong Industrial Area. It intersects170 Street at another diamond interchange, then bends east past the Hawin Park Estate, and Dominion industrial areas of northwest Edmonton.[1] After an interchange at 156 Street, a pair of one-way service roads begins, providing access to 149 Street and St. Albert Trail from both directions and 142 Street from eastbound, and the highway curves east. At the interchange with St. Albert Trail, theconcurrency with Highway 2 ends, carrying it north intoSt. Albert; the western freeway-grade segment also ends there.[1]
East of St. Albert Trail, an expressway-grade segment ensues north of theSherbrooke andPrince Charles neighbourhoods and the highway intersects 127 and 121 Streets at-grade, running between Canadian National's Walker Yard and a large area formerly occupied by theEdmonton City Centre Airport.[1] Following the railway corridor, it descends slightly tosingle-point urban interchanges at 97 and 82 Streets. AtElmwood Park the route curves southeast to intersect Wayne Gretzky Drive andFort Road; the former is an expressway that proceeds south across the river toward downtown while the latter becomes Manning Drive and laterHighway 15 to the north. Meanwhile, Yellowhead Trail crosses 66 Street at-grade prior to a diamond interchange at 50 Street. A freeway section ensues; the speed limit increases to 100 km/h (62 mph) as the road curves slightly southeast pastBeacon Heights en route to an interchange atVictoria Trail before descending across theNorth Saskatchewan River nearBeverly on theClover Bar and Beverly Bridges, each three lanes wide. Climbing from the river valley, the expressway crosses into Strathcona County which officially ends the Yellowhead Trail designation immediately west of a second large combination interchange with Anthony Henday Drive. Highway 16 continues past Sherwood Park towardLloydminster at the Saskatchewan border.[1]
In the 1960s, Highway 16 followed portions ofStony Plain Road, Mayfield Road,111 Avenue,109 Street, and118 Avenue through north Edmonton.[3] The need for a free-flow bypass was identified, initially proposed when the City of Edmonton commissioned the 1963 Metro Edmonton Transportation Study (METS). The plan proposed a downtown freeway loop with feeder routes, including an eastern approach via98 Avenue, a northeastern approach parallel toFort Road, and a western approach, known as the Jasper Freeway, via the MacKinnon Ravine and100 Avenue which would have directly connected with Highway 16 west.[4] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Alberta expanded Highway 16 east of Edmonton, with connections to 98 Avenue in mind. A major interchange atHighway 16A (present-dayAnthony Henday Drive) opened in 1971 and an interchange at Highway 16A andHighway 14X (present-day Anthony Henday Drive andBaseline Road, respectively) opened in 1975, featuring grading for a future eastbound to northbound flyover that was ultimately not constructed.[5]
The western freeway through theNorth Saskatchewan River valley and McKinnon Ravine was the most controversial aspect of the plan, withpublic protests suspending construction shortly after clearing work had begun. In tandem with cost overruns, the project was cancelled in 1974.[6][7] The cancellation of the METS freeway resulted in an alternate bypass route to be considered for Highway 16. At the time, 125 Avenue and Santa Rosa Road were collector roads which ran parallel to theCanadian National Railway; 125 Avenue was interrupted by theEdmonton Industrial Airport but the city had planned to connect the two segments to form an arterial roadway.[8] In 1977, Alberta and Edmonton entered a cost-sharing agreement for the construction of Yellowhead Trail which included the expansion of 125 Avenue and Santa Rosa Road between 156 Street and 118 Avenue near the North Saskatchewan River, and a new extension westward toHighway 16X, which at the time entered Edmonton along 118 Avenue.[3][9] Construction commenced in the late 1970s and was completed in 1984 with Yellowhead Trail as a 4-6 lane roadway. Interchanges opened at 118 Avenue /Victoria Trail in 1978,97 Street andSt. Albert Trail in 1982, and170 Street in 1983.[5][9] Following the completion of Yellowhead Trail, provincial highway designations were decommissioned within Edmonton's inner city; Highway 16 was designated to follow Yellowhead Trail east of 170 Street andHighway 2 followed Yellowhead Trail from St. Albert Trail to 170 Street before it continued south toWhitemud Drive andCalgary Trail.[10]
Yellowhead Trail was improved throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, firstly with interchanges opening at 82 Street in 1988 and later atFort Road. A new Capilano Drive (nowWayne Gretzky Drive) extension opened in 1995, and interchanges opened at50 Street in 1996, Anthony Henday Drive on the west side of the city 1998; and Winterburn Road in 1999.[5] In 1997, Highway 16X was renumbered to Highway 16 resulting in Yellowhead Trail having a contiguous highway number for its entire length.[11] Interchanges were opened at 184 Street in 2004 and 156 Street in 2007.[5]
Due to heavy traffic volume, much of which is large trucks, Edmonton sought funding to upgrade Highway 16 within the bounds of Anthony Henday Drive to a freeway. In 2016, the city unveiled plans for a $1 billion freeway upgrade to the expressway, eliminating at-grade intersections and constructing new interchanges. Construction began in 2019 and is scheduled to be completed by 2026/2027.[12][13] As of mid-2023, Yellowhead Trail east of 50 Street has been widened from two to three lanes, with the interchange at Victoria Trail having been reconfigured. Conversion to freeway standards west of St. Albert Trail is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2023,[needs update] which will see the removal of all at-grade crossings, particularly at 142 and 149 Streets. Access to these streets will be provided by right-in/right-out service roads. In 2023/2024, construction is also set to begin between St. Albert Trail and 97 Street, as well as between Fort Road and 50 Street. This will include the elimination of all remaining at-grade crossings, straightening of the alignment north of the former City-Centre Airport lands and the construction of new shoulders, service roads and interchanges at 127 Street, 121 Street and 66 Street.[14][15]
| Location | km | mi | Exit | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edmonton | 0.0 | 0.0 | – |   Highway 16 (TCH/YH) west –Jasper | Continues west | |
| Range Road 261 / Hill View Road / 231 Street | Right-in/right-out (no crossover); Edmonton city limits | |||||
| 1.6 | 0.99 | 376 | Winterburn Road (215 Street) | Diamond interchange | ||
| 3.5 | 2.2 | 378 | Anthony Henday Drive (Highway 216) | Combination interchange; Highway 216 exit 25 | ||
| 5.0 | 3.1 | 379 | 184 Street –St. Albert | Partial cloverleaf interchange | ||
| 6.6 | 4.1 | 381 |  170 Street –St. Albert,West Edmonton Mall | Diamond interchange; toMisericordia Community Hospital | ||
| 8.4 | 5.2 | 383 | 156 Street –St. Albert | Partial cloverleaf interchange | ||
| 9.4 | 5.8 | 383 | 151 Street | Westboundright-in/right-out | ||
| 9.2 | 5.7 | 384 | 149 Street | Right-in/right-out (no cross traffic); eastbound signed as exit 385 | ||
| 10.0 | 6.2 | 385 | 142 Street | Eastboundright-in/right-out | ||
| 10.6 | 6.6 | 385 |  St. Albert Trail (Highway 2 north) –St. Albert | Diamond interchange | ||
| 11.6 | 7.2 | 386 | 127 Street | At-grade (traffic lights);Diamond interchange under construction[16] | ||
| 12.0 | 7.5 | 124 Street | At-grade (traffic lights); proposed intersection closure[16] | |||
| 12.6 | 7.8 | 387 |  121 Street | At-grade (traffic lights);Diamond interchange under construction;[16] toVia Rail Station | ||
| 12.6– 13.9 | 7.8– 8.6 | Passes former Edmonton City Centre (Blatchford Field) Airport | ||||
| 14.0 | 8.7 | 107 Street | At-grade (traffic lights); no westbound exit; connection via 121 Street interchange;[16] | |||
| 14.9 | 9.3 | 389 |  97 Street toHighway 28 north | Single-point urban interchange; toRoyal Alexandra Hospital | ||
| 16.5 | 10.3 | 391 | 82 Street | Single-point urban interchange | ||
| 17.6 | 10.9 | 392 | Fort Road /Wayne Gretzky Drive | Single-point urban interchange | ||
| 18.4 | 11.4 | 66 Street | At-grade (traffic lights); westbound to southboundjughandle via 67 Street; proposed overpass with eastbound entrance[16] | |||
| 18.8 | 11.7 | 62 Street | Closed; former at-grade intersection[16] | |||
| 19.0 | 11.8 | 125 Avenue | Right-in/right-out (westbound only) | |||
| 20.1 | 12.5 | 394 |  50 Street toHighway 15 north / 125 Avenue | Diamond interchange | ||
| 22.6 | 14.0 | 397 | 118 Avenue /Victoria Trail | Partial cloverleaf interchange | ||
| 23.2– 23.6 | 14.4– 14.7 | CrossesNorth Saskatchewan River Beverly Bridge (eastbound) andClover Bar Bridge (westbound) | ||||
| 24.0 | 14.9 | 400 | Hayter Road / 17 Street NW | Interchange; signed as exit 400A | ||
| Strathcona County | 25.3 | 15.7 | Anthony Henday Drive (Highway 216) | Combination interchange; Highway 216 exit 54; eastbound signed as exit 400A; westbound signed as exit 400B (north) and 400C (south) | ||
| – | Highway 16 (TCH/YH) east –Sherwood Park,Lloydminster | Continues east | ||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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