Economic corridors

Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors is a member of the Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety, which is federal-provincial-territorial forum that facilitates collaboration on improving the transportation system’s role in moving people, goods and services, while ensuring the safety of the system. Through this Council, Alberta works to advance the province’s interests with respect to market access including matters related to corridors, air transportation and marine transportation, along with the safety of commercial drivers and vehicles.

Through this Council, Alberta has worked with federal, provincial and territorial counterparts on the following initiatives:

• Interim Report for the Pan‑Canadian Competitive Trade Corridor Initiative
• Phase 2 Report for the Pan-Canadian Competitive Trade Corridor Initiative
• Primary Conclusions of the Working Group on Recovery of the Air Transportation Sector

Alberta is also a member of the Western Transportation Advisory Council (WESTAC), which provides opportunities for the province to work with other Western Canadian governments, transportation operators and industry on identifying solutions to challenges facing Western Canada’s supply chains.

As well, Alberta is a member of the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC), which is a not-for-profit, national technical association focused on road and highway infrastructure and urban transportation. In 2021, TAC released a report, entitled Understanding Goods Movement in Canada: Trends and Best Practices.

Additional corridor-related research and analysis has been conducted by the following organizations:

• Canada West Foundation: From Shovel Ready to Shovel Worthy: The Path to a National Trade Infrastructure Plan for the Next Generation of Economic Growth
• The University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy: Canadian Northern Corridor Research Program
• 2022 National Supply Chain Task Force: Final Report of the National Supply Chain Task Force

Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have signed an agreement to collaborate on joint economic corridor projects to boost trade and economic growth.

Read the agreement.

For more information, see Taking the lead on new nation-building projects.

Provincial highway projects help enhance the province’s economic corridors by adding capacity for the movement of people and goods. A component of Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors’ capital spending also focuses on the rehabilitation of existing infrastructure that is relied on by Albertans, Alberta businesses and transportation carriers.

To prioritize capital projects, including those which support economic corridors, the criteria for recommendations on the Capital Plan submission consider economic, safety, social and environmental impacts, as well as cost-benefit analysis. The economic benefits of capital projects play a prominent role in the identification of those projects in the ministry’s 3-year Capital Plan.

Through Transportation and Economic Corridors’ grant funding programs, Alberta municipalities can access funding for local infrastructure projects that enhance the movement of goods and people. This local infrastructure connects into broader economic corridors that provide access to other destinations within Alberta and outside the province.

In particular, 2 components of the Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program (STIP), are the Resource Road Program, which supports building and improving road infrastructure that supports industrial and economic growth, and the Community Airport Program, which supports the rehabilitation and improvement of community-owned public-use airports.

• 511 Alberta
• Grants and funding for municipalities
• Transportation policies and technical guidelines
• Transportation/Utility Corridors
• Roads, bridges and ferries
• Major construction projects
• Transportation construction tendering and contracting
• Guidelines for pipelines
• Commercial driving