Dividing last two-lane stretch of Trans-Canada at least four years away, province says

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This article was published 19/05/2023 (840 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The actual twinning of Manitoba’s last remaining undivided section of the Trans-Canada Highway will not begin until at least 2027, with the project predicted to cost more than $500 million.

Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk said studies and design work will take four years to complete before construction crews can start widening a 17-kilometre stretch of Highway 1 between Falcon Lake and the Manitoba-Ontario boundary.

“We want to expedite the process so that we don’t wait eight or 10 years for the highway to start construction,” he said, referring to the timeline of a similar project underway in Ontario. “We want to get it done as soon as possible.”

A new four-lane highway will improve safety and travel times, while boosting trade on the major corridor, Piwniuk and Premier Heather Stefanson said at an official project launch in Falcon Lake Friday.

Piwniuk said engineers have given him an early estimate of more than $500 million.

“We don’t know exactly. That’s why we have to do the conceptual design,” said Piwniuk. “That will give us a better understanding of what the true cost is.”

The Manitoba and Ontario governments are teaming up to lobby Ottawa for funding and a national infrastructure strategy.

Piwniuk confirmed to the Free Press in March that tree-clearing and other preliminary work was underway.

That work is expected to be finished by the fall of 2024.

An initial phase will twin 700 metres of road at the boundary to align with Ontario’s twinning project, which started in June 2022 after more than a decade of talks.

Manitoba recently awarded a contract to Tetra Tech Canada for a conceptual design study for the remaining 16-kilometre stretch of highway.

The two-year study will be followed by another two-year period involving the final design and other work, said Piwniuk.

He noted Manitoba mirrored aspects of Ontario’s project to reduce the timeline.

Greg Rickford, the member of provincial parliament for Kenora—Rainy River, said Ontario hopes to have the Trans-Canada twinning from the boundary to Kenora in four years.

While he welcomed the plans, Peter Lugli had hoped the main construction would begin sooner than four years from now.

His brother Mark, 54, and nephew Jacob, 17, were killed in July 2019, when a tractor-trailer veered into their lane on the undivided highway near Barren Lake.

The father and son from Dryden, Ont., were on their way to a golf tournament in Selkirk.

“Safety is the driver here, of course,” said Lugli. “We just hope that people proceed with a great deal of haste — not recklessness, but haste — to do the job right.”

Nine people died in collisions on the untwinned section between 2000 and 2020, the province wrote in response to a freedom of information request submitted by Lugli.

Local resident Edward Walker, who owns the Falcon Lake Bakery and Whiteshell Brewpub, described the project as a “big relief.”

“Every year, there’s always a tragedy on the highway. Hopefully, this addresses that,” he said. “A safer drive for everyone in the area is beneficial.”

Every day, more than 5,000 vehicles, including many tractor-trailers, use the two-lane section through Whiteshell Provincial Park, according to government data.

“This is one of the busiest stretches of highways, especially during the summer months, as cottagers and tourists come to take in our beautiful lakes and explore the great outdoors,” Stefanson told reporters ahead of the May long weekend, when traffic increases.

The conceptual design study will look at route options on the existing highway or on a new alignment, designs for new or modified interchanges at Provincial Road 301 and Highway 44 and options to get rid of three remaining intersections.

Tetra Tech Canada will also consider access requirements at Hunt and Lyons lakes, options for replacing an existing flyover at PR 301 and additional interchanges or grade separations that may be required.

Survey crews will be working at the site in the coming weeks. They will use drones and other equipment.

Pressed on why the highway wasn’t twinned years ago, Stefanson attempted to blame on the previous NDP government, which commissioned a study in 2009.

While in office, the NDP twinned the Trans-Canada between Virden and the Saskatchewan boundary.

Piwniuk noted how important that was for improving safety.

Elected in 2016, the Tories did not commit to the eastern twinning project until last year, after the Lugli family and other road users called for improvements in a series of Free Press articles.

In November 2021, shortly after Stefanson became premier, a government spokesperson said the province had no immediate plans to twin the highway, The Carillon, a Steinbach newspaper, previously reported.

For its project, Manitoba plans to consult Indigenous rights holders, land and business owners, the trucking industry and the public.

“I think I speak for everyone in Manitoba’s trucking industry when I say we welcome this announcement and we look forward to the completion of this project,” said Manitoba Trucking Association president Jason Dubois.

Ottawa, which this month pledged $153 million for a Trans-Canada twinning project in Liberal-governed Newfoundland and Labrador, made no commitments to Manitoba nor Ontario on Friday.

“Decisions about highway expansion and maintenance fall under the purview of provinces and territories, who are responsible for planning, operation, and funding,” Caleb Spassov, a spokesman for Infrastructure Canada, wrote in an email.

“The government of Canada will continue to work with the government of Manitoba to strengthen our infrastructure’s climate resiliency and our supply chains and enhance road safety.”

Rickford, a Tory, accused the federal Liberals of funding projects based on political partisanship.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching