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A stretch of Edmonton’s outer ring road that’s more like a parking lot than a freeway at rush hour will be expanded to six lanes from four lanes.

Construction will start in 2019 on the 18-km southwest segment of Anthony Henday Drive, one of the Edmonton region’s most important traffic arteries.

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“I’m very well aware of bottlenecks and traffic jams that occur on the segment of the Henday between 111 Street and Whitemud Drive, particularly during rush hour,” said Alberta’s Transportation Minister Brian Mason, announcing the $100-million project on Tuesday. “Budget 2018 includes the required funding to alleviate this problem.”

Design work is underway and construction is expected to take three years.

“Once the widening is complete, free flow travel on Edmonton’s 80-kilometre ring road will be even more efficient,” Mason said.

The Henday was built to carry about 40,000 vehicles a day, a traffic volume originally expected to be reached by 2020. But in that fast-growing part of the city the roadway reached capacity by 2009. Today, the Henday carries about 80,000 vehicles a day. Officials said the expansion to six lanes, three in each direction, will increase the volume to about 120,000 vehicles a day.