The proposed route planning study for future twinning of Highways 6 and 39 were showcased during public open houses, held by Tetra Tech and the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure.
The open houses were an important first step towards getting the highways twinned, according to Marge Young, co-chair of the Time to Twin committee.
Both Marge Young and co-chair Laurallie Ireland were in Weyburn on Wednesday evening for an open house at the Travelodge.
Young noted that they were there at the start of the three-hour open house. “We were really excited about the number of people who were there, it looked like it was a strong turnout. We were also pleased that they had a lot of people there to answer questions, and to get feedback from the public.”
The Time to Twin committee are recognized as an important stakeholder by the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure. “We are very pleased they are making these baby steps towards the project and there are some positive steps,” said Young.
There is no definite date on when the twinning project will be started, although there is some pre-construction planned for a section of highway between Bienfait and Estevan.
In addition to the open house held in Weyburn, there were also open houses in Milestone and Midale. According to Mark Rathwell, senior communications consultant for the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure, the open houses were a part of the planning process.
“This is a large project that goes for a lot of kilometres and through a lot of communities so this is a very important first step towards building a twin highway.” He noted that there were a lot of curiosity-type questions from the general public.
One of the things that Young was quite curious about was that many of the proposed routes for the highway line had a bypass around each community, including Weyburn.
Rathwell noted that the bypass was just one of the options, as each map also had the options for doubling the highway going through the communities.
For Weyburn itself, there were six different options. “These options regarding the twinning project, and how the highway would pass through the communities, were presented so we could get the public input and their thoughts.”
When mapping out the route options, engineers took in consideration the current highway route, and any obstacles that might be presented. They also had to consider the necessary width for each highway, and width between highways.
A typical four-lane cross section must have a standard of 32 metre width between opposing lanes. There also needs to be 25 metre width from any railway lanes. Most of the bypass options around communities are to the south, so that they avoid crossing the Soo Line rail line.
Before their open houses, the ministry and Tetra Tech had consultations with the communities, RMs, towns, cities and landowners that would be affected. The options for twinning were a reflection of those consultations. The Weyburn Review has a PDF file online with all the maps.
One of the intentions is to provide a 110 kilometre/hour posted speed corridor along the twinned highway. The current posted speed limit is 100 km.
Mayor Debra Button said that twinning project will have a beneficial economic impact on the city, especially as it is another step closer to having a twin link into the United States.
“We have pushed for the twinning project for years. Traffic has increased going through Highways 6 and 39, but there is also increased traffic on other highways since drivers are looking for alternate routes, such as Highways 35 and 33.”
As the ministry continues to look at twinning options, Button is hopeful that they will keep the twinned option that goes through the City of Weyburn. “Most of that road is already twinned. There are some issues that would have to dealt with, such as the small track of railway that does intersect the highway.”
Carmen Sterling, reeve for the RM of Weyburn, was also happy that the open houses were made available by the ministry. “This project has been a long time coming, and it is good that the public was able to look at the preliminary plans. It is important that we have a community buy-in into the project.”
“The ministry is also working hard to ensure that the safest route is chosen, a route that would best utilize our resources and compliments our business community,” said Sterling.
“It was a bit of a challenge in planning a route, especially navigating around the railway and the river.”
Another open house will be held in the new year, when the engineers and ministry officials will be back with a proposed route, with more finalized details on the twinning routes.
“It is a multi-step process because you want to get it right,” said Rathwell. “There is a lot of dynamics in play when you are working on a project like this.”
Comment sheets were provided to residents during the open houses. For those residents who took a comment sheet home, they need to be e-mailed to Tetra Tech by Tuesday, Jan. 5, to [email protected].
Dates for the second round of open houses will be detailed, once those are finalized.
