Alberta Highway 9

Highway 9 is a highway in south-central Alberta, Canada, which together with Saskatchewan Highway 7 connects Calgary to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan via Drumheller. It is designated as a core route of the National Highway System, forming a portion of an interprovincial corridor.^[2] Highway 9 spans approximately 324 km (201 mi) from the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1) east of Calgary to Alberta's border with Saskatchewan.^[1][3][4]

Highway 9 begins at its interchange with Highway 1 approximately 10 km (6 mi) east of Chestermere and 20 km (12 mi) west of Strathmore, and approximately 6 km (4 mi) north of Langdon via Highway 797. For its first 45 km (28 mi), Highway 9 generally runs in a north/south direction to Beiseker, where it meets Highways 72 and 806. At Beiseker, Highway 9 runs in an east-west direction for 64 km (40 mi) to Drumheller, where it meets Highways 10 and 56. Highways 9 and 56 then run in a north/south concurrence for 22 km (14 mi) from Drumheller to its intersection with Highway 27 east of Morrin. Highway 9 leaves the concurrence at this point and runs east/west for the balance of route to the Saskatchewan border, providing connections to Hanna and Oyen as well as numerous smaller communities, and generally running parallel to Highway 12 to the north. The highway continues as Saskatchewan Highway 7 in a northeast direction toward Saskatoon.^[2][4]

Over the past few years, the province of Alberta has executed a number of upgrades to the highway, widening shoulders and realigning the road (most recently just west of Drumheller, although the new alignment now bypasses the Horseshoe Canyon landmark as a result). As of 2007, however, the province has yet to twin any stretch of the busy highway, and there have been calls for interchanges to be built at its junctions with Highway 21 and the Trans-Canada due to the number of fatal automobile accidents that have happened at these locations.

A partial cloverleaf interchange was constructed in 2007 where Highway 9 crosses the Trans-Canada Highway. As well, the junction with Highway 21 was changed to a four-way stop in early 2011.

The following is a list of major intersections along Alberta Highway 9 from west to east.^[1][4]

Highway 797 is a highway in the Calgary Region that functions as a southern extension of Highway 9. It presently is in two segments; the 6.5 km (4.0 mi) northern segment runs from Highway 560 (Glenmore Trail) in Langdon to the Trans-Canada Highway, while the 2.9 km (1.8 mi) southern section is unsigned and runs from Highway 552 to the south bank of the Bow River.^[5] The northern segment used to extend from Langdon to the north bank of the Bow River, indicating that a bridge might be constructed to connect the two sections. The bridge was not constructed and the 9.7 km (6.0 mi) section was transferred to Rocky View County in the 2000s.^[6]