Highway 19 and Highway 625 are two provincial highways south of Edmonton in the Canadian province of Alberta that form a continuous east-west route connecting Highway 60 near Devon to Highway 21 east of Beaumont. Highway 19 was acquired by the City of Edmonton in the land annexation approved by the Province in 2019. Highway 19 passes north of the Edmonton International Airport and, in tandem with Highway 60, provides a southwest bypass of Edmonton between Highways 2 and 16. East of Highway 2, Highway 19 becomes Highway 625 and continues through Nisku Industrial Park. It intersects Highway 814 in before ending at Highway 21. Alberta Transportation is planning to upgrade Highway 19 to a divided highway, and has long-term plans for similar upgrades to Highway 625.
Route description
Highway 19 runs for entirely in Leduc County. It begins at an intersection with Highway 60 as an eastern extension of Halicz-Gildehurst Road at the south end of Devon, proceeding east across the county, intersecting several local roads and crossing Whitemud Creek. It passes north of Edmonton International Airport and becomes a divided highway before a partial cloverleaf interchange with Highway 2 shortly thereafter, marking the end of Highway 19. East of the interchange the divided highway, now designated as Highway 625, continues as the main east-west thoroughfare through industrial and business areas of Nisku. At the east end of Nisku, the divided highway ends and the two-lane road continues east to an intersection with Highway 814 in Beaumont, providing an alternate route north into Edmonton. Further east, Highway 625 ends at Highway 21 south of the hamlet of Looma, and continues in Leduc County as Township Road 504 to Ministik Lake.
History
The original designation of Highway 19 was used for the route that connected Wetaskiwin to Westerose. In the 1940s, Highway 19 was extended around Pigeon Lake, intersecting Highway 12 near the locality of Norbuck, south of Breton. In the early 1960s, Highway 19 was realigned and continued due west from Westerose to Winfield, but was renumbered to Highway 13 in the late 1960s, coinciding with the opening of Highway 2 realignment. The present-day alignment of Highway 19 was originally constructed as an all-weather gravel road that appeared on a 1956 Alberta road map linking Devon to Highway 2. In the 1960s, the preferred route to connecting Beaumont to Highway 2 and Highway 21 was Township Road 510, located north of Beaumont; however, as access was later consolidated and became more limited, Township Road 504 was selected as the preferred route. In, the numbered secondary highway system appeared, which at the time was under the jurisdiction of the local rural municipality. The section of Township Road 504 between Highway 2 and Highway 21 being designated as Secondary Highway 625, while the section between Highway 2 and Devon was designated as Secondary Highway 919, indicating a future upgrade to a provincially maintained, primary highway. The interchange at Nisku was opened in 1978, and in 1982, Highway 919 was renumbered to Highway 19. With the 2000 absorption of the secondary highways, Highway 625 became under provincial control.
Future
Twinning of Highway 19 from Highway 60 to Highway 2 is planned. The project includes eight intersection upgrades; two new bridges at Whitemud Creek; illumination at Highway 60 and airport access road; speed limit increase to 110 km/h ; and traffic signals at the airport access road intersection with a limit of 70 km/h. In conjunction with twinning of Highway 19, studies are underway to twin Highway 625 between Highway 2 and Highway 21.
