Sherwood Park Freeway is a
freeway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...
that connects east
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...
to
Sherwood Park
Sherwood Park is a large hamlet in Alberta, Canada within Strathcona County that is recognized as an urban service area. It is adjacent to the City of Edmonton's eastern boundary. While long confined to generally south of Highway 16 ( Ye ...
in
Alberta
Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
, Canada. It begins in the Gainer Industrial area, where Argyll Road and
82 (Whyte) Avenue merge, before it intersects
50 Street. It then curves slightly northeast through industrial areas in southeastern Edmonton across 34 Street into
Strathcona County
Strathcona County is a Specialized municipalities of Alberta, specialized municipality in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region within Alberta, Canada between Edmonton and Elk Island National Park. It forms part of Division No. 11, Alberta, Census Di ...
, then across 17 Street, and the freeway ends at
Anthony Henday Drive. It then continues into Sherwood Park as Wye Road (
Highway 630). It is primarily a commuter route, with heavier weekday volume westbound in the morning and eastbound in the afternoon, as residents of Sherwood Park commute to Edmonton.
Officially designated by Alberta Transportation as Highway 100, construction of Sherwood Park Freeway was completed in 1968 as a free-flowing alignment of
Highway 14 several hundred metres north of the former two-lane road, which was then re-signed as
Highway 14A and is now known as 76 Avenue.
Whitemud Drive took over the designation of Highway 14 upon its completion in the late 1990s.
Route description
Sherwood Park Freeway is a suburban freeway with a grass
median
The median of a set of numbers is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a Sample (statistics), data sample, a statistical population, population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as the “ ...
for its entire length, bisecting industrial and commercial areas in southeast Edmonton and at the western edge of Strathcona County.
[ The freeway begins south of the ]Kenilworth
Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Warwick (district), Warwick District of Warwickshire, England, southwest of Coventry and north of both Warwick and Leamington Spa. Situated at the centre of t ...
neighbourhood in the Gainer Industrial area. Immediately east of 71 Street, two lanes each from 82 Avenue and Argyll Road converge, eventually merging to form two eastbound lanes with a posted speed limit
Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed, express ...
of . The freeway passes underneath a railway overpass to a diamond interchange
A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction, used where a controlled-access highway crosses a minor road.
Design
The freeway itself is grade separation, grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge. ...
at 50 Street, after which the speed limit increases to and the road passes between the Morris Industrial area to the north and the Weir Industrial area to the south. The freeway then reaches a second diamond interchange at 34 Street and enters Strathcona County.[ Between 34 Street and Anthony Henday Drive, the boundary between Edmonton and Strathcona County follows the southern edge of Sherwood Park Freeway's ]right of way
A right of way (also right-of-way) is a specific route that people, animals, vehicles, watercraft, or utility lines travel, or the legal status that gives them the right to do so. Rights-of-way in the physical sense include controlled-access h ...
. The speed limit is reduced to 80 km/h prior to a third diamond interchange at 17 Street.
Shortly after 17 Street, the freeway meets Anthony Henday Drive at a combination interchange. A high capacity, two-lane, semi-directional flyover carries traffic eastbound on Sherwood Park Freeway to northbound Anthony Henday Drive. The other three left turn movements are provided by loop ramps. east of Anthony Henday Drive, the Highway 100 and Sherwood Park Freeway designations officially end, and the freeway continues as a major arterial named Wye Road into Sherwood Park. Wye Road continues through Sherwood Park becoming Highway 630 at Highway 21, travelling through the rural areas of Strathcona County, eventually connecting with Highway 14 west of Tofield.
The eastern half of the route from 34 Street to Anthony Henday Drive is designated as Highway 100 by Alberta Transportation
Alberta is a province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, the Northwest Territories to its north, and the U.S. stat ...
, but is not signed as such at any point along the route.[ The western segment is under the jurisdiction of the City of Edmonton.][ Between Anthony Henday Drive and 17 Street, Sherwood Park Freeway carried approximately 40,000 vehicles per day in 2019, with heavy westbound volume in the morning peak hours and eastbound in the afternoon as commuters travel to and from the primarily residential community of Sherwood Park.]
Strathcona County Transit
Strathcona County Transit provides local, commuter, and school bus services to the community of Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada, which is east of Edmonton in Strathcona County. Transportation for elderly citizens and people with disabilities is pr ...
operates routes 401, 403, and 404 along the freeway to Edmonton from Ordze Transit Centre on Wye Road.
History
In the early 1900s, Wye Road followed the alignment of present-day 76 Avenue out of Edmonton to the east, en route to North Cooking Lake. By the 1920s it had become a secondary unsurfaced thoroughfare, and was later named Highway 14. As Edmonton and the newly developed Sherwood Park grew in the late 1960s, a free-flowing road, Sherwood Park Freeway, was built to link the two on a new alignment of Highway 14 several hundred meters north of Wye Road. The cloverleaf interchange at the freeway's east end was completed in 1965, and the remaining interchanges were completed in 1968. It was four lanes wide and included an additional interchange immediately east of 17 Street that has since been removed.[ After completion of Sherwood Park Freeway, the existing Highway 14 (76 Avenue) was renamed to Highway 14A.][ Further south, Whitemud Drive was constructed and eventually extended east to reach Highway 14. It then assumed the designation of Highway 14 to a new terminus at ]Calgary Trail
Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in Ca ...
.[ The Highway 14A designation has since been removed from 76 Avenue, and the portion of Sherwood Park Freeway within Strathcona County was eventually renumbered Highway 100.][
Extensive upgrades to the eastern end of the freeway were finished in 2016 as part of a project completing the final northeast segment of the Anthony Henday Drive ring road.] The 17 Street bridge was demolished and reconstructed to be twice as wide with two lanes each way. An interchange linking the freeway to 76 Avenue (formerly Highway 14A) was removed.[ Westbound Sherwood Park Freeway between Anthony Henday Drive and 17 Street was widened to four lanes, while the eastbound direction is now three lanes wide, up from two lanes each way prior to the project. From 17 Street to the western terminus, both directions remain two lanes wide.][ Work to rehabilitate the 50 Street bridge was also completed in 2016, extending the structure's surface life for an additional 10–15 years.]
Major intersections
Sherwood Park Freeway stretches from 71 Street in Edmonton to approximately east of Anthony Henday Drive in Sherwood Park.
References
External links
Sherwood Park Freeway (Time lapse)
{{Alberta Provincial Highways, Hwy=yes
Freeways in Alberta
Roads in Edmonton
Roads in Strathcona County