Whyte Avenue

Whyte Avenue
82 Avenue
Whyte Avenue is located in Edmonton
Whyte Avenue
Whyte Avenue
Start/End points of Whyte (82) Avenue
NamesakeSir William Whyte
Maintained bythe City of Edmonton
Length7.2 km (4.5 mi)[1]
LocationEdmonton
West end114 Street / University Avenue
Major
junctions
109 Street, 104 Street, Gateway Boulevard, 75 Street
East endSherwood Park Freeway
Construction
Inauguration1890s
Whyte (82) Avenue, looking east from 104 Street.

Whyte (82) Avenue is an arterial road in south-central Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It became the main street of the City of Strathcona as it formed, and now runs through Old Strathcona. It was named in 1891 after Sir William Whyte, the superintendent of the CPR's western division from 1886 to 1897, knighted by King George V in 1911.[2] Whyte (82) Avenue is part of a 40-kilometre-long (25 mi) continuous roadway that runs through Sherwood Park, Edmonton, and St. Albert that includes Wye Road, Sherwood Park Freeway, portions of University Avenue and Saskatchewan Drive, Groat Road, and St. Albert Trail.

The roadway was originally the core of the city of Strathcona and was the division between the north and south quadrants, and Main Street, now 104 Street (Calgary Trail) was the division between the west and east quadrants.[3] In 1912, Edmonton and Strathcona amalgamated, and Edmonton adopted its present numbering system. Whyte Avenue was co-designated 82 Avenue, which allowed it to keep both names. As Alberta's highway system developed, Whyte Avenue became part of Highway 2 (previously Highway 1 prior to 1941) between 104 Street and 109 Street, and it was part of Highway 14 east of 104 Street.[4] The highway designations were moved to Whitemud Drive in the 1980s.

A small section of 82 Avenue exists as a collector road between 71 Street and 50 Street, where the main roadway transitions to the Sherwood Park Freeway.

  1. ^ "Whyte (82) Avenue in Edmonton, AB" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
  2. ^ Monto, Tom. Old Strathcona - Edmonton's Southside Roots (Edmonton: Crang Publishing/Alhambra Books, 2011).
  3. ^ Mundy’s Map of The Twin Cities Edmonton & Strathcona (Map). The Mundy Blueprint Co. 1911.
  4. ^ Alberta Official Road Map (Map). Government of the Province of Alberta. 1962. Edmonton inset. Archived from the original on March 30, 2017.