The Editor:
I live in Roche Percee, so I drive to Estevan or Bienfait almost every day and every day I get upset with some of the things I see.
Now I don’t have a problem with the twinning to the Bienfait turn (Junction of Highway 39 and 18) other than the posting of the 60 km/h speed limit whenever the construction company is working on the new lane. I guess it’s a, “hey, look at us, we’re working and nobody else is.” But at this junction there should have been a modified cloverleaf as it seems to be about a 60/40 split in traffic with 60 per cent going to Bienfait and further east.
Oh well, it’s just public safety.
Now, it appears the twinning continues onto a point just before the Roche Percee turn, then drops back to two lanes. There is no turning lane to Roche Percee. They can’t make it too easy, got to make sure the traffic has to slow down for those turning to go to Roche Percee.
There is going to be an overpass for the coal haulers, about half way between the Bienfait turn and the Roche Percee turn. I understand the overpass is at our (taxpayers’) expense. We can’t have the coal haulers stop, it takes time, and time is money.
As construction is going on there is a detour in place so the overpass can be built. So now, for the next year anyway, the traffic coming from Roche Percee can’t go straight to No. 39, but has to go out of their way. It seems we can’t be trusted to stop and check for oncoming traffic as we have for the last 55 years. We now have to go a mile out of our way to do the same thing.
A lot of people in the area used to use the stub connector to Bienfait to access facilities and activities there. So again, for at least the next year, we have to go a mile and a half closer to Estevan to get back to where our kids go to school, we curl or just visit. This stub connector has been a point of contention between the RM of Coalfields and the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure (formerly Department of Highways) for a long time. The RM wanted Highways to fix the stub connector and the Highways people wanted to close it. After all, it’s just used by the people in the area and it seems the government wants us to zig-zag all over the country and burn more gas so they can get more gas tax and harass us.
Reg Jahn
Roche Percee
