Souris-Moose Mountain MP Ed Komarnicki said he will continue to support the bid to have Highways 39 and 6 twinned from Regina to Estevan.
In an interview last Wednesday, Komarnicki noted that he has long been a proponent of twinning and was happy to hear the provincial government say it will place a high priority on it.
"I have indicated all along that they should look at it futuristically speaking, should have a bold vision and twin it," Komarnicki said.
After years of saying the amount of traffic on the route from Estevan to Regina didn't warrant twinning, Premier Brad Wall surprised many last month when he announced that the government is now taking a very serious look at the matter.
In comments while he visited Estevan, Wall acknowledged the safety concerns and indicated that traffic projections have forced his government to change its stance. Wall added that because twinning the roughly 200 kilometres of highway would come at a huge expense, the province would be seeking funds from the federal government.
Asked about that, Komarnicki said he has sent a letter to the Minster of Transportation in the past and will continue to push for support.
"I sent a letter to say this really needs to be done at some point and it would be nice if we had some infrastructure dollars to help this along," he said. "Then I followed up again with the new minister and we advanced a lot of the funding under the previous (infrastructure) programs to the provinces or directly to the programs, so until the end of 2014 all those funds are used up.
"But new programs are coming in place and certainly we should keep that in mind in our design of the programs and so on, because I think it is an important route and there is no question it needs to be done. Cost is always important, and if the feds can share in some of the funding that would be great, and we'll see how it goes."
Komarnicki added that with the economy in southeast Saskatchewan not expected to slow down for years, it is important to move forward on twinning. He said the types of traffic are also a major consideration.
"This is an important trading area, and we have a lot happening here locally, not only from the Bakken oilfield but the interchange for the grain and the oil. There is a lot of stress on the roads and people are getting frustrated and you can appreciate that.
"My sense is that it's going to continue to grow and if you look down the road in terms of the economy, (twinning) makes good sense and it is never going to get cheaper."
Komarnicki said any push to get federal dollars is made somewhat easier by the fact Highway 39 is considered an international trade corridor.
"We are investing a considerable amount of dollars in building up North Portal and we invested millions of dollars to upgrade the highway to North Portal and given the fact it is a trading corridor it makes it easier for me lobbying for federal involvement," he said. "My approach has always been if you are pushing in the right direction, hopefully something opens up, and I'd like to see it happen in my time if I could."
