Anthony Henday Drive
Highway 216, better known by its official name of Anthony Henday Drive, is a freeway that encircles Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is a heavily travelled commuter and truck bypass route with the southwest quadrant serving as a portion of the CANAMEX Corridor that links Canada to the United States and Mexico. Henday is one of the busiest highways in Western Canada, carrying over 115,000 vehicles per day in 2024 at its busiest point near West Edmonton Mall. Rapid suburban development has resulted in increased traffic congestion on parts of the road, which is addressed by expansion projects such as the widening of the southwest portion, completed in 2023.
Calgary Trail in south Edmonton is designated as the starting point of the ring, with exit numbers increasing clockwise as the freeway proceeds across the North Saskatchewan River to the Cameron Heights neighbourhood, then north past Whitemud Drive, Stony Plain Road and Yellowhead Trail to St. Albert. It continues east past 97 Street to Manning Drive, then south across the North Saskatchewan River a second time. Entering Strathcona County, it again crosses Yellowhead Trail and Whitemud Drive, passing the community of Sherwood Park. Continuing south to Highway 14, the road re-enters southeast Edmonton and turns west to complete the ring.
Late in its planning the freeway was named after English explorer Anthony Henday, who historians believe was one of the first Europeans to visit Edmonton. Its designation of 216 is derived from its bypass linkages to Edmonton's two major crossroads, Highways 2 and 16. Constructed over 26 years at a cost of $4.3 billion, Henday became the first freeway to surround a major Canadian city when the final segment opened on October 1, 2016. Planning of the ring began in the 1950s, followed by design work and initial land acquisition in the 1970s, and opening of the first expressway segment in 1990. Plans for Henday were developed in tandem with Stoney Trail, a similar ring road freeway around Calgary.
Route description
Overview
Alberta Transportation describes Anthony Henday Drive as a "barrier-free, illuminated, high speed, free-flow, fully access controlled facility" with a posted speed limit of for its entire length around Edmonton, the first ring road of its type in Canada. The majority of Capital Region residents reside within the approximate diameter of the ring and there is extensive suburban development close to Henday. By physical size, Edmonton is larger than both Toronto and Montreal, but has a relatively low population density. Some have argued that the freeway is a significant contributor to urban sprawl in the region. The city also lacks a free-flowing north-south route, further increasing traffic levels on Anthony Henday Drive.The road travels primarily through suburban residential areas in the south and west of the city, and rural farm lands and wetlands in the north. The eastern section of the road separates the Sherwood Park portion of Refinery Row and other industrial and commercial developments in Edmonton to the west, from the balance of Sherwood Park to the east. At its widest point east of Edmonton between Whitemud Drive and Sherwood Park Freeway, Anthony Henday Drive is eight total lanes wide which includes three main travel lanes in each direction plus a fourth lane allowing traffic to merge onto and exit from the roadway. The highest number of through lanes is seven, between Aurum Road and 153 Avenue in northeast Edmonton. Most of the road is paved with asphalt, except for an experimental concrete segment in southwest Edmonton, the first of its type in the province. Alberta Transportation intended for the section to have lower long-term maintenance costs, but only six years after construction it required significant repairs. Concrete was not considered for subsequent sections of the road, but overall it was deemed to be a successful experiment that would net long term savings.
West and north Edmonton
Alberta Transportation considers the starting point of Anthony Henday Drive to be at Calgary Trail / Gateway Boulevard in south Edmonton, with mileage increasing clockwise around the ring. At this major interchange, two westbound lanes of the freeway are joined by two lanes from northbound Gateway Boulevard and a third from southbound Calgary Trail. All five lanes merge into two over a short distance, creating congestion in the afternoon rush hour. Three westbound lanes continue across Blackmud Creek past 111 Street to 119 Street. Curving slightly to the southwest through the suburbs of south Edmonton, Henday crosses Whitemud Creek to an interchange at Rabbit Hill Road. Veering back to the northwest, the freeway passes beneath Terwillegar Drive before descending to cross the North Saskatchewan River on twin bridges.West of the river, the six lane freeway passes Maskêkosihk Trail and Cameron Heights Drive on its way to Lessard Road and Callingwood Road. Curving north, traffic volume increases as the freeway reaches a major interchange at Whitemud Drive. A northbound braided ramp helps reduce congestion between Whitemud Drive and 87 Avenue, with which an interchange immediately follows. Henday continues north to major interchanges at Stony Plain Road and Yellowhead Trail, providing access to Spruce Grove and Jasper respectively, before curving northeast toward the city of St. Albert. Between Whitemud Drive and Yellowhead Trail, Henday is officially concurrent with Highway 2, but this is not indicated on any road signs.
In northwest Edmonton, Anthony Henday Drive first crosses Ray Gibbon Drive before continuing northeast to pass St. Albert to the southeast. After Ray Gibbon Drive, the freeway serves as the boundary between the cities of Edmonton and St. Albert. The six lane road continues over 137 Avenue and under 170 Street to Campbell Road where it reduces from three lanes each way to two. It continues curving east across 127 Street to Highway 28, the most northerly point on the ring road. Now forming the approximate boundary between Edmonton and Sturgeon County, the freeway passes south of CFB Edmonton before reaching 66 Street and a major interchange at Manning Drive/Highway 15, the former terminus of the freeway until the final section was completed in 2016.
East and south Edmonton
After Manning Drive, the freeway widens to six lanes and continues clockwise through northeast Edmonton past 153 Avenue to a second crossing of the North Saskatchewan River. Four lanes cross the river southbound and three northbound on bridges. A pedestrian crossing was again included; it is slung underneath the southbound bridge and ties into the existing pathway system. The seven lane freeway rises from the river valley into the Clover Bar area, crossing Aurum Road to a major interchange at Yellowhead Trail, crossing into Strathcona County.In Strathcona County, the fourth southbound lane is dropped and the six lane freeway immediately crosses over Petroleum Way en route to interchanges at Baseline Road and Sherwood Park Freeway, passing Refinery Row to the east. South of Sherwood Park Freeway, Anthony Henday Drive forms the boundary between Strathcona County and the city of Edmonton. The freeway continues to a second interchange at Whitemud Drive after which it is briefly concurrent with Highway 14 until that route branches southeast later. Four lanes of Anthony Henday Drive re-enter the city of Edmonton and turns west toward the starting point of the loop. Before straightening out to a westerly heading, the freeway interchanges with 17 Street, then 50 Street after which it returns to a six lane freeway, crosses 91 Street, and returns to its starting point at Calgary Trail/Gateway Boulevard.
Interchange design
Alberta Transportation used several different interchange designs for the freeway, the most common being the partial cloverleaf, with between four and six ramps. This type of interchange is ideal for connections between freeways and arterial roads; they have a higher capacity than diamond interchanges, but do not have the weaving and merging problems of full cloverleaf interchanges. Loop ramps are also used to better conform to existing terrain or structures, or to increase merge/weave distances between closely spaced interchanges. For example, they were used at 91 Street to achieve at least of separation to Gateway Boulevard, which would not have been possible with a conventional diamond.Anthony Henday Drive features several variations of the combination interchange, a common name for hybrid designs that allow for high speed left turns on elevated or depressed directional ramps. They retain loop ramps for the lesser used left turn movements which significantly reduced the cost and overall size of the interchange because fourth level flyovers are not required as they are in a stack interchange. Henday features two three-level interchanges; the one at Calgary Trail / Gateway Boulevard was the first three-level interchange to be constructed in Alberta. Several of the bridges in this interchange use a "Trellis Beam" concept in which many perpendicular girders are used to carry the upper roadway at a high degree of skew. Anthony Henday Drive's junction with the Yellowhead Highway east of Edmonton was reconstructed with two new two semi-directional flyovers and one loop ramp for the eastbound to northbound movement. The existing semi-directional ramp for the westbound to southbound movement that runs parallel to the railway line that bisects the interchange, which opened prior to the completion of the northeast leg of Anthony Henday Drive, has been retained in the reconfigured interchange.
Traffic
The busiest section of Anthony Henday Drive is in west Edmonton between 87 Avenue and Stony Plain Road where it carried over 108,000 vehicles per day in 2019, second only to Whitemud Drive among Edmonton roadways. The section carried over 115,000 vehicles per day during the summer months of 2019. The 6-lane section of the southwest quadrant between Calgary Trail and Whitemud Drive is significantly over capacity and sees major delays during peak periods. A contributing factor is the close proximity of interchanges between the North Saskatchewan River and Yellowhead Trail, which creates a problem known as "weaving" in which traffic is trying to simultaneously enter and exit within the same stretch of roadway.Traffic levels on Henday have risen much more quickly than anticipated. Alberta Transportation concedes that in 2001 the southwest section was projected to reach 40,000 vehicles per day by 2020 but reached that mark in 2009. as of 2019 it carries over 80,000 vehicles per day in the vicinity of 111 Street, and Alberta committed to widening the section to six lanes by 2022 with work planned to have begun in fall 2019. The work completed in 2023. Prior to the announcement, project manager Bill van der Meer had stated that Henday is operating efficiently, aside from peak hour congestion. Alberta Transportation generally considers widening four lane highways when volumes reach between 30,000 and 50,000 cars per day. With the exception of a section in north Edmonton between Highway 28 and Manning Drive, by 2015, all four-lane sections of Henday each carried more than 40,000 vehicles per day.