We’re in the idea phase of the province’s plan to twin Highway 39.
Adding two lanes to a pre-existing highway sounds easy enough, but the logistics of laying 240 km of dual-lane pavement can prove quite mind-boggling. Looking between Estevan and Bienfait, the biggest decision appears to be whether to add roadway north or south of the present highway.
It’s when we get down the road to Midale, Weyburn and YellowGrass that we run into trouble, and there’s a joke in there somewhere about running into trouble in Weyburn.
It’s in those communities where the highway runs through town. Most other towns and villages lie off to one side of the current Highway 39.
The options for how to position the highway through or around those three communities are plenty.
The first decision may be how we wish to handle speed limits along this new four-lane highway. Do we want a 110 km/h express right from North Portal to Regina or are we willing to run the highway as is, through Weyburn and reduce the speed by half for travellers who are just passing through?
If the province decides running the highway through the city is no good, then we can expect a bypass a la the Estevan heavy-truck bypass currently under construction to the north of Estevan. That route runs nearly 20 km around the Energy City. How much additional roadway will we need to run the highway around Weyburn?
Do you run that bypass north or south of that city?
We posit that perhaps a brief slowdown through our Highway 39 neighbours would be the best option, obviously the least expensive but also a respite for weary drivers and a potential boon to their hospitality and restaurant industry.
When it comes to Midale, perhaps the best option again would be to forge right through the community, full speed ahead. There is a lot of room between the town north of the highway and a service road to the south. There may be enough room to run a four-lane highway through the town.
However, that may present particular safety issues that would have to be explored. How many vehicles are transitioning from the highway into Midale and vice-versa? What kind of exit lanes might be needed, and if they are, is there enough lateral space to include those additional lanes?
Slowing down in YellowGrass is perhaps everyone’s least favourite part of a drive from Estevan to Regina and back, so something must give when it comes to running this highway through that town. The most economical option in terms of space would be to run the highway around to the north because the town sits to the south of the existing road.
The problem is that would involve encroaching a rail line, which runs parallel to Highway 39 until the highway crosses the railway as it becomes Highway 6 and turns north into Regina.
To avoid that, there would need to be a larger bypass around the south side of town. That may be the best option for drivers tired of easing off the gas through Yellowgrass.
We don’t have all the answers, and we aren’t the engineers. We can only sit back with a bird’s eye view thanks to Google, and dream up the small ways this big project might be completed.
