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A RM councillor, former police chief, and landowner:

a unique perspective on the Estevan truck bypass
Del Block
Del Block lives adjacent to the new bypass.

Estevan– Del Block has an interesting perspective on the new truck bypass that circumnavigates around the north side of Estevan. As a retired Estevan Police chief, he dealt with traffic in and through the city on a daily basis. As a councillor for the RM of Estevan, he’s been involved with the discussions around the bypass. And finally, the acreage he shares with his wife, Carol, had its northern edge shaved off it when the route was finally chosen.

First off, Block says he’s been a supporter of the project from the beginning. “There are lots of positives,” he said.

“There could be a lot of commercial businesses along the bypass,” he predicted, everything from implement dealerships to hotels, restaurants and fast food.

“The main driver is to get heavy traffic out of the city,” he said. “I expect there will still be a certain amount through the city.”

There have long been issues with oversize trucks running into problems with the underpass on west side of Estevan, near KFC. “That won’t be an issue now,” he said, noting there won’t be obstructions on the new truck bypass.

However, if there is a train causing a delay, for instance at the western end of the bypass, he expects truckers will choose to go through the city at that point.

He noted how some drivers are creatures of habit. When roadwork on the overpass on the east side of Estevan about seven years ago diverted traffic down the gravel roads past their acreage, a lot of drivers chose to keep using that route long after the overpass work was done. “We still have international truckers to this day who found that route and use it,” he said.

The new bypass should take care of that.

The city has diverted heavy traffic around its downtown core for many years, and that, too has been problematic. He noted the corner near the SARCAN is especially difficult when two semis meet each other going the opposite direction.

“Before I was chief, I pushed for years for trucks to go down Fourth Street, using the centre lane, with no turns, and going only 30 kilometres per hour,” he said.

This is essentially what happens whenever the downtown bypass was closed for roadwork, as was the case for much of October.  “I don’t recall of a single accident when trucks were routed down Fourth,”he said.

There was a reluctance from businesses and the city council to do that, however, and the downtown bypass remains to this day.

Sitting on the RM council has opened his eyes to why it has taken so long to complete.

“It doesn’t happen quickly,” he said, noting there have been numerous meetings and budgetary processes.

As for the Blocks’ land, it was expropriated, and it wasn’t the only land expropriated, either. “I’m still not settled,” he said.

The initial amount offered per acre was a small fraction of the final result. That was a factor for the seven-and-a-half year long processes from initial announcement in the April 2008 provincial budget to completion now.

“They came in with a lowball offer. It would have been faster. Two developers got much higher amounts,” Block noted.

He agreed with Todd Shirley of neighbouring Bert Baxter Transport in saying truckers will go through the city if they are delayed by trains at either end of the bypass. The track on the west side, Canadian Pacific’s Soo Line, is one of their mainline connections from Western Canada to the American Midwest.

“We were up to 26 trains a day when I was chief,” he said. There’s only room to stage one semi between Highway 39 and the rail crossing on the west end. If there are more eastbound semis wishing to turn onto the bypass but blocked by a train, they will stack up along the highway’s turning lane.

On the east side of the bypass, that track is a branch line with much less traffic, but also with trains that run much slower and thus will take longer to clear the crossing.

At the bypass/Highway 47 intersection, he was hoping to see traffic lights, but that’s not in the cards. Traffic leaving Estevan northbound on Highway 47 will have its speed reduced to 80 kilometres per hour until it reaches the stop sign at the bypass intersection.