Yellowhead Trail | |
|---|---|
| Highway 16 | |
 Yellowhead Trail highlighted in red | |
| Route information | |
| Maintained by City of Edmonton | |
| Length | 24.6 km[1] (15.3 mi) |
| Major junctions | |
| West end | 231 Street |
| East end |  Anthony Henday Drive (Highway 216) |
| Location | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Alberta |
| Major cities | Edmonton |
| Highway system | |
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Yellowhead Trail is a 24.6-kilometre (15.3 mi) 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 commuter route for the bedroom communities of Stony Plain, Spruce Grove, and Sherwood Park, carrying nearly 80,000 vehicles per weekday in 2015.[2] A suburban bypass of the route was completed when the northeast leg of Anthony Henday Drive (Highway 216) opened in late 2016, providing an alternate route through north Edmonton.
The Yellowhead Highway becomes Yellowhead Trail at Edmonton's westerly border, 231 Street. The rural divided highway meets Anthony Henday Drive at a large interchange, crossing over the Canadian National Railway and veering slightly northeast through industrial areas of northwestern Edmonton. The expressway passes underneath St. Albert Trail and past Canadian National's Walker Yard to 97 Street. Bending south near the neighbourhood of Eastwood and back to the east, it intersects Wayne Gretzky Drive and Victoria Trail before descending across the North Saskatchewan River near Beverly to a second large interchange with Anthony Henday Drive, at which the Yellowhead Trail designation ends and Highway 16 enters Strathcona County.
As a portion of the Yellowhead Highway, the expressway takes its name from Yellowhead Pass, through which Highway 16 passes from Alberta into British Columbia. Construction was planned in the 1970s and was fully completed by 1984, receiving incremental improvements in subsequent decades; the route now includes a mix of signalized at-grade intersections and interchanges. Due to heavy congestion, Edmonton outlined a $1 billion plan in late 2016 to upgrade Yellowhead Trail to a freeway, eliminating at-grade intersections and constructing new interchanges. Work began in 2019 and is planned for completion in late 2027.
- ^ Google (October 25, 2017). "Yellowhead Trail in Edmonton, Alberta" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
- ^ "2015 Traffic Flow Map" (PDF). City of Edmonton. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 25, 2017. Retrieved October 25, 2017.