Early plans The road is named after
Isle of Wight explorer
Anthony Henday, who travelled up the
North Saskatchewan River to the area now known as
Edmonton in the 18th century on a mission for the
Hudson's Bay Company. Plans for a ring road around Edmonton began developing in the 1950s when the Edmonton Regional Planning Commission identified a need for the road to support future development in the Edmonton area, and the movement of goods and services around the province. Areas around the city that could potentially interfere with this growth were retained by the province and called Restricted Development Areas. In 1972, Edmonton City Council recommended that the city ask for the province to pay for the ring road. Shortly thereafter, in addition to the Restricted Development Areas that had already been retained, the Alberta government led by
Premier Peter Lougheed continued land acquisitions to assemble a transportation utility corridor (TUC) for Edmonton and Calgary ring roads. Plans had evolved to provide
right of way for future overhead
high-voltage transmission lines, underground gas and
oil pipelines, and water/storm sewer lines. By 1985, a study had been completed to plot an exact alignment of Anthony Henday Drive through the TUC and by the end of the decade most of the required land had been purchased from land owners. Unused land within the corridor may be leased out by the government as a source of revenue, but some landowners were unhappy that the province did not have a firm timeline for Henday's construction.
South construction The southwest quadrant of Anthony Henday Drive bypasses Edmonton to the southwest, connecting Highways 2 and 16. It was deemed to be the highest priority for construction because of its designation as part of the
CANAMEX Corridor, a trade route through Alberta that links Alaska to Mexico. The first section of the bypass to be completed was from Whitemud Drive north to Stony Plain Road, constructed by the City of Edmonton beginning in 1990 and completed in 1992 prior to the province taking over responsibility of Henday. An additional extending the road north to Yellowhead Trail was completed by 1998. Construction then shifted south, with completion from Whitemud Drive south to 45 Avenue just north of what is currently the Lessard Road interchange. The next section extended the road on twin bridge structures across the North Saskatchewan River to
Terwillegar Drive, opening on November 8, 2005. In December 2003, during construction of the southbound bridge, a
girder collapsed and had to be replaced, delaying construction. An extension further east to Calgary Trail was completed by October 2006, creating a full southwest bypass of Edmonton. It includes a
semi-circular arch structure that spans Whitemud Creek, and three
arch bridges over Blackmud Creek. A $168 million interchange that included seven bridges was constructed at Stony Plain Road, and the entire quadrant became free-flowing in late 2011 after the completion of smaller interchanges at Lessard Road, Callingwood Road, and Cameron Heights Drive. A flyover was originally planned on the western leg at 69 Avenue before it was ultimately scrapped by Alberta Transportation. The total cost of the entire southwest quadrant from Yellowhead Trail to Gateway Boulevard was $577 million. In 2003, Alberta began design work for the southeastern section from Gateway Boulevard to Highway 14. Unlike the southwest portion, the province announced its intention to construct the road via a
public-private partnership (P3), also known as a design-build-operate project. This method of construction presented millions of dollars in savings to Alberta taxpayers, and allowed the project to be completed on an accelerated timeline because the consolidation of various sub-contracts is managed by one entity allowing for increased efficiencies. On January 25, 2005, Alberta signed a $493 million contract with a consortium called Access Roads to build the road and maintain it for 30 years. Construction began in April and was completed in October 2007. The new segment included 24 bridge structures and 5 interchanges, and connected Highway 14 to Yellowhead Trail in the west effectively creating a full southern bypass of Edmonton. It also provided an important link for the quickly growing southern communities of
Ellerslie and
Summerside to the rest of Edmonton's road network.
North construction and completion Construction of an interim segment from Yellowhead Trail in the west to 137 Avenue was the first to be completed, as part of St. Albert's
Ray Gibbon Drive project. Full work on the entire of the northwest leg from Yellowhead Trail to Manning Drive (Highway 15) was initiated in early 2008 after Alberta's signing of a $1.42 billion P3 agreement with Northwestconnect General Partnership to build and maintain the road for 30 years. Construction began in September 2008, described by then Premier
Ed Stelmach as "an important step in meeting our provincial goal of completing the ring roads to a freeway status by 2015." The project included the construction of two large interchanges, one each at Yellowhead Trail and Manning Drive. Seven other smaller interchanges were also constructed, as well as five flyovers and two rail crossings. Three lanes each way were built from Yellowhead Trail to Campbell Road, and two lanes each way from Campbell Road to Manning Drive. All work was completed on time, and the leg opened to traffic on November 1, 2011. s were used for construction of bridges over the environmentally sensitive North Saskatchewan River in northeast Edmonton, first on the river's south bank, then the north bank seen here in 2014.|alt=Berms were used for construction of two steel bridges carrying Anthony Henday Drive over the North Saskatchewan River in northeast Edmonton, first on the river's south bank, then the north bank seen here in 2014. The bridges carry three lanes northbound and four lanes southbound. In May 2012, Alberta signed a $1.81 billion P3 contract with Capital City Link General Partnership to build and maintain the final northeast segment of Anthony Henday Drive for 30 years after construction, from Manning Drive to Yellowhead Trail east of Edmonton in Strathcona County. A sod turning ceremony was held on July 16 and construction was underway, at the time the largest transportation project in the history of the province. Significant reconstruction was done to the existing section of the road east of Edmonton from Yellowhead Trail south to Highway 14 that had been in place since at least the early 1960s. Before being upgraded and incorporated into Anthony Henday Drive, the existing road was formerly known as
Highway 14X, the "X" denoting that the route was an extension of Highway 14. Prior to the completion of Whitemud Drive at the end of the 1990s, Highway 14 followed a more northerly alignment through Edmonton on Sherwood Park Freeway. As part of the reconstruction, several bridges constructed between 1965 and 1974 were demolished. These existing bridged spanned the Anthony Henday Drive corridor at Yellowhead Trail, Baseline Road and Sherwood Park Freeway and were removed to make way for updated structures that would allow the freeway underneath to be widened to six lanes and further expanded to eight lanes or more in the future. A bridge built in 1969 carrying Broadmoor Boulevard over Yellowhead Trail was also demolished because it was not at the required elevation for the new interchange configuration. Yellowhead Trail from the North Saskatchewan River to Clover Bar Road was significantly improved and widened, as was Sherwood Park Freeway from 17 Street to Ordze Road/Crescent in Sherwood Park. Overall, the project included the construction of nine interchanges, two road flyovers, eight rail flyovers, and twin bridges over the North Saskatchewan River for a total of 47 bridge structures, and the demolition of 13 existing bridges. An extensive environmental assessment was also completed which identified the need for a wildlife crossing at the river, which was constructed. Noise analysis based on projected traffic volumes was also completed. The complex interchange at Yellowhead Trail includes several braided ramps, connections to adjacent roads, and is bisected by a railway line. On October 1, 2016, the northeast leg of the freeway was officially opened to traffic. Major construction on Sherwood Park Freeway and Yellowhead Trail was also largely complete including all new lanes and ramps. Only minor aesthetic work remained such as landscaping, completion of
mechanically stabilized earth walls, and painting of
wing walls,
piers, and
abutments. == Future ==