Alberta Provincial Highway No. 56, commonly referred to as Highway 56, is a north-south highway in

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. It begins northwest of Bassano at its intersection with Highway 1 (

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean o ...

). It continues through

Drumheller Drumheller is a town on the Red Deer River in the badlands of Central Alberta, east-central Alberta, Canada. It is northeast of Calgary and south of Stettler, Alberta, Stettler. The Drumheller portion of the Red Deer River valley, often ref ...

and Stettler and before ending at intersection with Highway 13 and Highway 834 southeast of Camrose.

History

In the early 1990s, there was talk of extending Highway 56 from the Highway 1 to the US border. This was due in large part to then Alberta Premier

Don Getty Donald Ross Getty (August 30, 1933 – February 26, 2016) was a Canadian politician who served as the 11th premier of Alberta between 1985 and 1992. A member of the Progressive Conservatives, he served as Energy Minister and Federal and Intergo ...

, who at the time was also the MLA for Stettler. All talk of this endeavor stopped once Getty retired from politics and was succeeded as Premier by

Ralph Klein Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 20 ...

Major intersections

Starting from the south end of Highway 56:

References

{{Alberta Provincial Highways, Hwy=056 056 Drumheller