Red Deer County council members, along with Minister Devin Dreeshen, pose for a picture at Junction 42 following the completion of the expansion project. (rdnewsNOW/Ian Gustafson)

By Ian Gustafson

Transportation Hub

Construction on upgrades at Junction 42 now complete

Nov 13, 2025 | 2:04 PM

Construction for a new roundabout and parking lot expansion for the 290-acre Junction 42 business park has been completed.

The project is a long time coming in a successful partnership between Red Deer County and the Government of Alberta.

Construction began this year, which consists of a new two-lane roundabout located at the intersection of Highway 2 and Highway 42, and an expansion of a five-acre parking lot located within the Junction 42 Partnership Rest Area for commercial truck parking.

This expansion of the lot meets the growing need for truck parking and a rest area for the travelling public.

On Thursday morning, members from both parties were on location for a ribbon-cutting.

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County mayor Brent Ramsay said the financial support from the provincial government was a major help in the project.

The county was responsible for providing the land and completing the design, planning and construction for the work. They’ll also be in charge of maintaining the site going forward.

Meantime, the provincial government covered the cost of the $6.7-million project.

“It’s really exciting,” Ramsay said. “The roundabout is a huge piece just for the safety of the travelling public, and we were over capacity almost from day one with the truck stops, so this added, I think, 50 extra stalls here. It’s going to be huge for just increasing the amount of trucks that can stop and get rested.”

(Red Deer County/Supplied)

In terms of what’s next for Junction 42, Ramsay explained there are a couple of potential deals in the works to bring more businesses to the park, which won’t be announced just yet.

“That’s the big thing, right? Bring more traffic here and then hopefully the development side of it will come,” he added.

Ramsay explained the goal for the area was to turn it into a transportation hub. He hopes a potential increase in traffic will attract more development, such as businesses in the service and hospitality industries.

Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen, who’s also the MLA for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake, said the completion of the second phase was much needed.

Phase one of the project opened in 2018 and featured a rest area that was jointly funded by the province and the county. It also featured a Burger King, Petro-Canada gas station, an electric vehicle service station, and a Tim Horton’s restaurant.

Dreeshen said the initial rest area was full almost immediately, marking a need for a bigger lot.

“This will make highway safety that much better along Highway 2, our busiest corridor in the province,” Dreeshen said. “I’m happy to see it completed on time.”

(Red Deer County/Supplied)

For now, Phase two is the final phase for Junction 42, but Dreeshen didn’t rule out future expansion, saying they’re going to wait and see how successful this phase is before making any promises.

“Obviously, there’s more land to be developed out here and there’s other locations along Highway 2 that we want to look at for rest areas as well to be able to invest in,” he said. “This is success, building upon success to be able to build here. We want to see that success across the province.”

No tenders have been sent out, but Dreeshen said there’s been early discussions with municipalities to potentially build and expand more rest stops across the province.