REGINA - Highway construction season is now on in Saskatchewan and drivers can expect to see that work activity when they travel the province’s roads in the coming weeks.
Highways Minister Jeremy Cockrill spoke to reporters Wednesday alongside those involved in the construction and engineering industries. One such major project was already under way not far from where Cockrill made his announcement: work on rehabilitating the Highway 6 bridge over Regina's Ring Road for traffic coming into the city from the south.
Highways is spending $62.8 million this year on repairing or rebuild 14 bridges and replacing more than 100 culverts. Along with the Highway 6 project, plans include replacing the Montreal River Bridge on Highway 2 near Weyakwin.
Other projects include continuing passing lanes and widening on Highway 5 from Saskatoon to Highway 2, twinning projects near Rowatt and Corinne on Highways 6 and 39 between Regina and Weyburn, and upgrades on Highway 15 east of Kenaston located between Highways 11 and 2.
The province will also be improving upwards of 1,000 kilometres of highways with 230 km of repaving, 300 km of medium treatments like micro surfacing, 340 km of pavement sealing, 115 km of thin membrane surface and rural highway upgrades, and 35 km of gravel rehabilitation.
“This keeps us on track to meet our growth plan goal to build and upgrade 10,000 km of highways in Saskatchewan over a decade, and in fact we are ahead of that pace currently.”
This year the highways budget is $776 million, with $422 million in capital projects alone. The work is seen as vital in keeping roads safe and in good condition.
“The Ministry of Highways continues to make key investments to improve safety and enhance those key transportation corridors,” said Cockrill.
It is also seen as benefiting the local economy. Shantel Lipp, President of the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association, said “we employ about 30,000 workers in the industry. Now that’s not just the people working on the construction sites, that’s every vendor, supplier — there’s a lot of spinoff industries that actually funnel into the road construction that’s happening.”
During the pandemic, there was some stimulus spending in the highways budget to keep people employed and get projects completed.
Because of the number of construction workers who will be out working on projects this spring and summer, drivers are reminded by the province to be patient and slow down, and watch speed limits in construction zones.
Weekly highway construction updates are published on Saskatchewan.ca, and people are being encouraged to check the Highway Hotline for the most current information on the status of construction and where that work is taking place. People are also being encouraged to plan ahead, and plan for a little extra time.
“We know roadwork, at times, it can create inconveniences, But this inconvenience is temporary and required to make sure that we can improve our network,” said Cockrill.
Wildfires creating highways issues
One issue facing the highways department at the moment is the ongoing wildfire situation in the province’s north, which has caused road closures.
The good news is right now there aren’t any communities directly threatened by the fires, said Cockrill. However, the fires have straddled Highway 155 between Ile-A-La-Crosse and Buffalo Narrows, causing transportation issues there.
“We’ve had Highway 155 closed down for a number of days between the junction of Highway 908 and 925,” Cockrill said. “We are able to platoon or convoy vehicles through that stretch when it’s safe.”
Cockrill said he had been speaking to the district operations manager last night, with concerns that the impacted communities up north had been running low on groceries and fuel. But Cockrill noted the work of SaskPower who had managed to get the power back on, which he said should lessen the stress on the fuel supply there.
“Again, I was talking to our staff up there even just this morning, just saying how important it is we prioritize essential vehicles going through heading north, to make sure those communities stay well-stocked.”
As for the impact on construction season, Cockrill said it will have an impact on some of the improvements they had planned for Highway 155. They had also been hoping to finish Highway 956 this year, but that is now up in the air. “We’re still going to do our best on that, but obviously the focus in the northwest right now is getting those fires out and keeping everybody safe in that area.”
