We know it isn't true, but after last Tuesday's Time to Twin public forum attracted fewer than 30 interested citizens, we were left with the thought that local residents appear to be less concerned with loss of lives on our local highways than they are about how their garbage is retrieved.
Those who did attend the Time to Twin meeting, we dare say, came away with some thought provoking statements to consider and a realistic sense of what might be done in the short term to kick-start a twinning program from North Portal to Regina.
One topic that resonated that evening was that twinning a small stretch of Highway 39 from the Bienfait turn to Estevan, could possibly be in the books. But that will only happen if, and when, we get interested enough in seeing that it happens. The local population still has to drive the issue home with a reluctant Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure who have to deal with many demands from a sparse, spread-out population. We're all demanding better highways.
Ron Gerbrandt, director of operations for the southern region for the ministry, was to be applauded for his forthright responses to the concerns and questions. He arrived with what was hoped to be an open mind, and appeared to be interested in what was being said, taking notes and providing reasoned arguments and discussion points for those who were assembled and interested in getting a safer, more economical path to Regina and back.
It was noted by those in attendance that if the traffic count took into consideration the vehicles that use Highways 47 and 33 as the alternate route to Highways 39 and 6, then the magic number of 5,000 daily vehicles would be surpassed rather easily since 90 per cent would use a twinned Highway 39, rather than the current 57 per cent. This would ease the traffic flow on Highway 47 and 33, thereby extending their lifespans.
The corridor between Estevan and North Portal near Bienfait currently registers well above 5,000 vehicles per day, thus this piece of throughway has already caught the attention of the traffic study team.
As noted in earlier editorials and columns, there is the need to consider the international business scope of this corridor and the intensity of the traffic on a 24-hour scale.
When we see the destruction of Highway 47 through Estevan with the piling on of heavy traffic, the argument for a twinned commercial route becomes even more valid.
A heavy truck bypass is only a partial answer.
A twinned route between Bienfait and Estevan, using the ministry's own cost analysis, would be between $12 and $20 million and could be included in any of the next two Highways and Infrastructure budgets. Based on the support this current government receives from this corner of the universe, we should expect them to jump at the opportunity to do something positive about the problem that isn't going to diminish with time.
Twinning this road in increments would begin a positive process.
Round two of a twinning project might include four lanes from North Portal to Bienfait corner (if it's not already included in the first phase) and then a twinning of the higher traffic areas such as the few kilometres in and out of the cities of Estevan and Weyburn or perhaps 20 kilometres immediately south of Regina which would help industry serve that city's global transportation hub.
There are solutions to the problem, and those became optimistically apparent at the Time to Twin forum that was missed by most.
If the topic had been about picking up trash at the front driveway versus picking up trash in a back lane boy, we would have seen some citizen engagement!
We can't question the priorities of the local citizenry, but we can say that we still feel that taking care of the safety and commercial trade traffic that affects the entire population supersedes the question of how we pick up garbage.
But we could be wrong.
