With local roads continuing to take a beating, the City of Estevan is working with the provincial government to try and speed up the start of construction on the truck bypass.
In a recent interview Mayor Roy Ludwig said a delegation that includes the City and officials from the RM of Estevan will be meeting monthly with the Ministry of Highways to ensure that there is an open line of communication between all parties.
"Up until now, we would have our liaison meetings with the RM and what they were hearing and what we were hearing wasn't quite the same," said Ludwig.
Ludwig said the City remains hopeful that work on the bypass, which has received government approval and funding, will begin this year.
It was initially expected that some groundwork would begin in late 2012 but the project has been hung up in the land acquisition stage as the province and landowners in the area have failed to come to an agreement.
As was previously reported in The Mercury, the province made an initial offer that the landowners felt was very low and rejected. The two sides have continued to negotiate and Ludwig said 45 per cent of the landowners have come to an agreement.
As for the remaining landowners, Ludwig said the province is continuing to negotiate with them and he is hopeful of a positive conclusion for both sides. However, Ludwig added that he expects the province might expropriate the land if no deal is struck.
"It's just something that inevitably will be looked at," he said. "It's the same as any bypass/roadway. In cases where they can't come to an agreement with the landowner they do go the expropriation route. I'm sure this case here will not be any different."
Ludwig said the City is very eager to see the bypass begin as the increased volume of truck traffic is continuing to damage streets in Estevan.
There is also concern that the recent announcement of a $90 million transportation hub in Northgate will further increase traffic through the City.
Ludwig said another reason the City and RM are meeting with the province is to address rumours that the province is planning to use the truck route as a full bypass around Estevan and not simply as a heavy truck bypass.
"Our feeling is that the heavy truck bypass would go around the City and Highway 39 would go through the City," Ludwig. "For our business people we still want the traffic coming through town, we just want the heavy truck traffic out of town. That was the whole premise right from the very beginning."
