The topic of twinning Highways and 39 and 6 from Regina to North Portal was certainly not a new topic in 2013.
For years many have been lobbying the government to twin what has become a very busy and dangerous stretch of road that has seen far more than its share of fatalities in recent years.
Despite the efforts, the government had remained steadfast in its assertion that by the formula they follow, the amount of traffic on the highway did not merit twinning. In fact Highway Minister Don McMorris penned a letter to the editor in the spring explaining the government's reticence to twin 39 and 6.
However, that stance took a sharp turn when Premier Brad Wall visited Estevan on Aug. 29.
In town for a tour of the Boundary Dam Power Station, Wall also met with City of Estevan officials. Following that discussion he met with the media and dropped something of a bombshell when he announced that the twinning of Highways 39 and 6 would be a "high priority," for his government.
The news was surprising on many levels but primarily because it marked such a significant change in direction. Wall said the decision was based on a recent SGI report that included traffic projections for five and 10 years.
"(The projections) just show that the very compelling need for twinning for 39 and 6 means that we must place a much higher priority on it as a government and we are going to do that," Wall said. "I am going to be asking the highways minister and the energy and the economy ministers and the SGI minister to sit down and work together on how we can move up the project, how we can move towards improving safety; how, frankly, we can move towards twinning on these highways in a much more timely way."
Along with the projections, Wall said his government had also taken notice of the number of fatalities, many of which could have been avoided if the highway was twinned.
"What's important here is the safety of Saskatchewan people. It's the tragedies that we've unfortunately seen and the ones that we would like to do everything we can to avoid in the future," Wall said.
"What we have here is a lot of truck traffic; it's agriculture, it's oil, it's industrial. That has to inform what government is going to do. The Highway 11 twinning project is wrapping up and we are looking at what's next, and I just want to reiterate that 39 has to be a higher priority and will be."
The reaction to Wall's comments was a mixture of joy and skepticism as many were leery that the premier was paying lip service to the controversial issue.
Since the announcement in Estevan, Wall has reiterated that twinning remains a priority and it's expected that plans will become clearer when the government delivers its budget in March of 2014.
