Third Street North Project

*May 27 2026 Elks Hall Riverside Medicine Hat - Kelly Allard Owl News*

Some tempers were elevated at the May 27 engagement sessions about the 3rd St N Corridor Enhancement.

Why is the city doing this?

City staff told Owl News that the pipes in the ground are between 110-115 years old which is well past their effective service life. The city could possibly do a trenchless repair but this will not address the other known issues with the area such as drainage, icing, and surface failures.

Since the road is going to be dug up anyway, it was deemed to be a good time to upgrade the surface aspects in anticipation of the next 30-50 years.

The majority of the concerns from residents seemed to be the road narrowing, how semis and RV s would navigate the decreased width. Other concerns noted were the perceived removal of parking spots.

The City says that the road is being right sized, that it is wider than it needs to be for its current purpose.

Once upon a time, the TransCanada ran along 3rd St N, crossing the river on Finlay Bridge.

The road has stayed the same width since then but the use has changed - highway traffic now goes on the TransCanada Highway, west of this area.

The area has become residential with a little bit of commercial. 3rd St N is not long a major artery, it has been downgraded to a Collector road.

The city website Shape Your City says

3 ST N is proposed to be 11.9m wide while maintaining a bus route with two-way traffic and parking on both sides. Semi-mountable (angled) curbs are added to maximize road width. The proposed 3.3m lane widths are the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) recommended road widths for a bus lane. Many jurisdictions recommend 3.0m lane widths for bus lanes (City of Edmonton recommends 3.0 - 3.2m).

20 ST NE is the closest real-world comparison for how the road will function once complete and road width will compare to the completed 3rd Street width.

*Created by Kelly Allard, Owl News May 2026*

The city's proposed lane widths are either at or above Alberta Transportation's own minimum standards for this road classification. Source Alberta Highway Geometric Design Guide (2022)

About Semi Trucks

3rd St N is a RESTRICTED truck route. City Bylaw 4346 says that trucks cannot operate between the hours of 11pm and 7am.

Deviation from the truck routes are for local delivery only (moving vans are a good example).

Semi trucks only make money when the wheels are turning. Given that the typical investment in a highway tractor aka semi (never mind the trailers) is over $150k, it is reasonable to expect that truck company owners will be maximizing their income as well as O/Os.

It has been an industry standard for at least 50 years that truck drivers always call ahead to set up a delivery time, to ensure there is room for their truck and to find out what the best route to the drop is. (Remember all those phones at the restaurant tables at truck stops?) Local people know the best way to come in and what the local traffic hazards are, if there is road construction, etc.

If there is not enough room, drivers have options - they can drop a trailer if they are hauling trains, they can drop at a different location, the load can be transferred to a smaller truck, etc.

*Outside the Elks Hall Riverside - Owl News*

Loss of Parking Spots

The City has said that no parking spots will be removed.

Yes, some intersections will have bulbouts but nobody can park within 5 metres of an intersection; that space was never available for parking.

Parking and Open Doors

There is a concern about not being able to open a car door from a parked vehicle without risking the door being taken off by passing traffic.

While Alberta has no specific law regarding dooring, case law does address it. In the 1997 Alberta case Herold v. MacElwain, a driver opened his door without checking his mirror and struck a cyclist. The court found him two-thirds at fault, noting that a simple glance would have prevented the collision. The provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec have statutory provisions explicitly prohibiting opening a door without taking due precautions.

Parents are concerned about the safety of children exiting from the drivers side on a narrower road. It is a legitimate concern but courts says the onus is on the parents to teach children to exit on the curb side, to supervise. In big cities with a lot of traffic, people of all ages typically exit/enter from the passenger side as much as possible.

There was also concern about there being enough room for large vehicles to park - one ton pickup trucks, bigger SUVs etc. Before the 1970s oil crisis, vehicles were about the same size as the large vehicles now, they were so big they were called Land Yachts.

*Vehicle Comparison - Kelly Allard Owl News*

RV Access

This is one argument the Owl heard repeatedly - there is not enough room to make a turn with a 40 foot fifth wheel trailer onto their street.

The Owl looked into what the license requirements were for hauling recreational trailers. Alberta is alone in allowing anyone with a class 5 license to haul a combination of vehicle plus trailer(s) up to 20 meters long (roughly 65 ft).

If a motorhome has air brakes then the driver must have an air brake endorsement but this consists of 6.5 hours of classroom training, a written test and a practical test - none of which tests their actual ability to manoeuvre their vehicle.

The air brake endorsement does not test:

Backing up – No evaluation of a driver's ability to reverse a trailer or motorhome in a straight line, around a corner, or into a parking space.
Turning – No assessment of a driver's ability to judge turning radius, clear curbs, or avoid bulb-outs and other street furniture.
Maneuvering in tight spaces – No requirement to demonstrate handling a large RV on narrow residential streets.
Trailer sway recovery – No testing of how to regain control if a fifth wheel begins to fishtail.
Emergency braking – No practical demonstration of stopping a heavy vehicle safely in normal or emergency conditions.
Coupling or uncoupling – No evaluation of properly hitching a fifth wheel or travel trailer.
Pre-trip inspection – No requirement to show knowledge of checking tires, lights, brakes, or hitches before departure.

Meanwhile other provinces require drivers to have more than a class five license to haul a trailer over 4600kg (10,000lbs). In Alberta, there is no weight limit, only a length limit of up to 20m (just over 65ft).

In the meantime, the City produced the following in regards to turning radiuses.
All of the images below are from the City of Medicine Hat engagement session.

Other Forms of Traffic Calming

Several people suggested lowering the speed limit instead of narrowing the road but the City's data suggested that drivers are not obeying the speed limit now.

The Owl spoke with city staff about speed humps.

(Speed humps are not the same as speed bumps - you can easily go over speed humps at the posted speed limit - over the posted speed limit you will get bumped around.)

They said the fire department was against it as it would cut down on their response time.

The staff member also said that speed humps were unpopular - they did a pilot project in Ranchlands but over 50% of the responses they got after rejected that idea.

About The Survey

This survey is not scientific. A scientific survey uses proper sampling methods and does not allow anyone to take a survey more than once (nobody gets to stack the deck).

You can do this city survey as many times as you like; there is nothing to limit surveys coming from the same IP address. This has been a recurring problem with City surveys.

An old marketing adage says a happy customer tells 3 people, an unhappy customer tells everyone. Unhappy/ angry people are highly motivated and that needs to be taken into consideration.

One person did make a good point about the survey only being online. Even though the City did send staff with tablets to the engagement session to help people do the online survey, the person still wanted a paper copy of the survey. When the Owl returned that evening, there was a stack of paper surveys.‍ ‍

There are two more Open Houses Tuesday June 2

Open houses will take place at Elks Hall (305  3  Street  NW, Medicine  Hat). City staff and project team members will be available to answer questions and discuss elements that are still being refined.

Tuesday, June 2

🕚 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

🕓 4 – 6 p.m.

For what it is worth - the survey is open until June 15 2026. City staff will assist people to complete it at the open houses.

📝 Survey‍ ‍

Medicine Hat's Traffic Calming War