Alberta Provincial Highway No. 28, commonly referred to as Highway 28, is a highway in north-

central Alberta Central Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. Central Alberta is the most densely populated rural area in the province. Agriculture and energy are important to the area's economy. Geography Central Alberta is bordere ...

, Canada that connects

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

to Cold Lake. It begins at

Yellowhead Trail Yellowhead Trail is a expressway segment of the Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16) in northern Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It carries a significant amount of truck traffic to and from the industrial areas of north Edmonton and serves as a key co ...

( Highway 16) in Edmonton as 97 Street NW, running through the city's north suburbs before entering

Sturgeon County Sturgeon County is a municipal district the Edmonton Metropolitan Region of Alberta, Canada. It is north of Edmonton and west of the North Saskatchewan River. Sturgeon County is located in Division No. 11 and was named for the Sturgeon River. ...

and passing

CFB Edmonton CFB Edmonton (also called 3rd Canadian Division Support Base Edmonton) is a Canadian Forces base located in Sturgeon County adjacent to the City of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada. It is also known as Edmonton Garrison or "Steele Barracks". His ...

. After merging with Highway 28A near

Gibbons Gibbons may refer to: * The plural of gibbon, an ape in the family Hylobatidae * Gibbons (surname) * Gibbons, Alberta * Gibbons (automobile), a British light car of the 1920s * Gibbons P.C., a leading American law firm headquartered in New Jersey ...

it winds through agricultural lands of north-central Alberta, roughly paralleling the

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows eventual ...

until

Smoky Lake Smoky Lake is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is located northeast of Edmonton at the junction of Highway 28 and Highway 855. It lies between the North Saskatchewan River, Smoky Creek and White Earth Creek, in a mainly agricultural area. ...

before continuing east through St. Paul County to

Bonnyville Bonnyville is a town situated in east-central Alberta, Canada between Cold Lake and St. Paul. The surrounding Municipal District (MD) of Bonnyville No. 87's municipal office is located in Bonnyville. The community derives its name from Fath ...

. It turns northeast to

CFB Cold Lake Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake , abbreviated as CFB Cold Lake, is a Canadian Forces Base in the City of Cold Lake, Alberta. The facility is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and is approximately south of the ...

, before ending at Lakeshore Drive in the city of Cold Lake shortly thereafter. The highway is a component of Canada's National Highway System. Between Highway 28A near Gibbons and the intersection with Highway 63 near

Radway Radway is a village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England, about north-west of Banbury in neighbouring Oxfordshire. The population taken at the 2011 census had reduced to 238. The village is at the foot of Edge Hill and is notable for the ...

, it forms part of the Edmonton-

Fort McMurray Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significant ...

corridor and is designated as a core route. For the remainder of the route from Radway to the eastern end at Cold Lake, it is designated as a feeder route.

History

Highway 28 was built in 1961, connecting Alberta's Lakeland to

by gravel road for the first time. Construction of the highway required splitting Mann Lake in two, creating Upper Mann Lake and Lower Mann Lake. Prior to 2006, Highway 28 ran through St. Paul. A section of the current highway between Ashmont and Hoselaw was formerly designated as Highway 28A, a bypass of St. Paul. As part of an effort to simplify highway route numbering in the region, this section was re-signed as Highway 28 in 2006 forming a more contiguous route between Edmonton and Cold Lake, while Highway 28 through St. Paul was re-signed as Highway 29.

Highway 28X

Alberta Provincial Highway No. 28X, commonly referred to as Highway 28X, was a

spur route A spur route is a short road forming a branch from a longer, more important road such as a freeway, Interstate Highway, or motorway. A bypass or beltway should not be considered a true spur route as it typically reconnects with another or the s ...

of Highway 28. It began at Highway 28, approximately south of Cold Lake, and travelled to the

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

boundary where it continued east as Saskatchewan Highway 55. In , Highway 28X was part of a number of highways which were renumbered when Alberta Highway 55 was established between

Athabasca Athabasca (also Athabaska) is an anglicized version of the Cree name for Lake Athabasca in Canada, āthap-āsk-ā-w (pronounced ), meaning "grass or reeds here and there". Most places named Athabasca are found in Alberta, Canada. Athabasca may a ...

and the Saskatchewan border.

Future

Alberta Transportation ultimately intends to upgrade the entire Edmonton-Fort McMurray corridor to a divided highway, which would include twinning of Highway 28 from Highway 28A to Highway 63.

Major intersections

Starting from the west end of Highway 28:

References

{{Alberta Provincial Highways, Hwy=yes 028 Cold Lake, Alberta Roads in Edmonton