The first round of feedback has been pretty positive, said Saskatchewan Highways and Infrastructure representatives, referring to the three open house events that were staged in southeast Saskatchewan last week.
The purpose of the outreach sessions was to gather information and opinions from the local populations concerning the proposed twinning of Highway 39 and Highway 6 (south) from Estevan to Regina.
The first set of proposed plans drawn up by ministry officials and design engineers for Tetra Tech, the consultants on the project, indicate the options that could be in place as two more lanes are added to the major throughway that will eventually be twinned all the way from the international border crossing at North Portal to Regina and then beyond on Highway 11 to Saskatoon, which is already a four-lane highway, or onto the TransCanada Highway, which is also twinned.
“We haven’t received any backlash in terms of the highway being twinned. Everyone wants that,” said Doug Wakabayashi, assistant director of communication for Highways and Infrastructure.
Planning boards were spread throughout the conference rooms where the open house events took place, the Legion Hall in Milestone, Travelodge in Weyburn and the Seniors’ 39’ers Hall in Midale. The Midale meeting on Dec. 18 was the final one in the first round of what will be at least a three-round schedule of meetings with the public as the project rolls out.
Officials explained that in the first sessions, they wanted to get a feeling for what the public felt they wanted and needed. Diagrams etched on aerial photos of the piece of highway that stretched from Hitchcock to Milestone were placed on easels for easy viewing with the existing highway outlined in one colour and proposed placements for the additional two lanes, or the construction of an entirely new four-lane bypass, in another colour, becoming part of the drawings.
Because the proposed four-lane highway will have the most impact in communities such as Midale, Milestone and Weyburn, it was felt the open houses had to be scheduled there.
In Midale, the proposals indicate there could be two lanes added to the existing highway that would only affect one business, but held other ramifications, as would a complete bypass plan that would require the purchase of farmland, probably to the north of the community.
Basic questions such as building the additional two lanes north or south of the existing lanes, was one of the first items up for consideration.
Wakabayashi explained that a whole lot of other considerations have to be factored in by the planners as the project moves on.
“There are several options for Weyburn for instance, I think there are six. There is a a lot to consider there, as there are in other centres. For instance, it can’t be built too close to the CP Rail tracks. Then there is the river to consider. We don’t want to have to cross it too many times. The turning radius for long grain hauling trucks … can they clear the tracks before entering the highway? How many intersections? We have to keep in mind this is going to be an expressway with a posted 110 km/h speed limit and we don’t want vehicles having to do a lot of braking or stopping on this route,” he said.
Miranda Carlberg, systems planner for Highways, confirmed that no route selected will be perfect and will impact the engineers who will be drawing the final route that is under the direction of project manager Viranga Tennakoon, who was also attending the Midale open house event to chat with local citizens who were asked to fill out comment sheets and file them by the first deadline date of Jan. 5, 2015.
Paul Steel, transportation engineer with Tetra Tech explained that the twinned highways will offer 11.4 metres of width on each side, plus generous shoulder widths to accommodate the growing trend toward wider loads as well as longer loads on semi-transports.
Farmers needing access to their land, if it needs to be expropriated, is a constant dilemma too, the group pointed out.
“Bypassing a community, not going through it, adds to the cost, so you balance that with the safety concerns,” said Wakabayashi, adding that safety is the primary concern.
Once the preferred options are made clear by the public, Highways and Tetra Tech will begin the second round of considerations and drawings.
“So far we’ve heard a lot of enthusiasm concerning the options we’ve provided,” said Carlberg.
The team said the Milestone open house attracted about 120 to 130 people with 98 officially signing in while in Weyburn, the community that will pose the most problems and currently has six or seven options on the table, drew about 150 to 160 people while the Midale event, in the early stages, saw about 40 or 50 people registered, but several more expected following a community fowl supper.
“The planning boards you see here will be up on our website after this,” said Wakabayashi. So more comments and observations can be made up to the Jan. 5 deadline.
