Province to build overpass at deadly intersection near Carberry

BRANDON — Today’s provincial throne speech will announce the construction of an overpass at an intersection near Carberry, the site of a bus crash that killed 17 seniors two years ago, the Brandon Sun has learned.

The decision came after pressure from the community to abandon a tentative plan to construct a restricted crossing U-turn, or RCUT, at the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 5.

A high-placed provincial government official revealed the plan to the Sun on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Next year we will start the design phase of the Carberry overpass at the intersection of Highway 1 and 5,” the official said.

Carberry Mayor Ray Muirhead said the overpass was a long time coming.

“I think it’s going to save a lot of lives in the long run. I think it’s going to be absolutely great for safety,” Muirhead said Monday.

“I think the people of the town of Carberry and surrounding communities are going to be absolutely ecstatic when they hear the news.”

On June 15, 2023, a bus carrying seniors from the Dauphin area to the Sand Hills Casino, south of Carberry, was hit by a semi-truck. The crash claimed the lives of 17 seniors.

In early 2024, a road safety report prepared for the province described the overpass as a long-term option, as it would require significant planning and analysis due to cost and potential impacts on surrounding communities. At the time, the province said the cost of the overpass was about $100 million and would come with a 20-year-plus timeline.

In September of that year, however, the Town of Carberry formally endorsed an overpass as the community’s preferred choice for improving the safety of the intersection.

Earlier this year, community members hosted rallies, started petitions and blasted the province and planners at an open house in June over what the province called its “preferred” RCUT model.

Premier Wab Kinew announced in July the province was scrapping the RCUT and said the overpass was back on the table.

The RCUT design would have forced drivers going straight or turning left from Highway 5 to turn right before crossing over three lanes and making a U-turn 900 metres later. Drivers turning left from the Trans-Canada would have been able to turn at the intersection.

The RCUT — which would have been the second in Canada — was unpopular because of fears it would be difficult and dangerous to navigate for farmers and truck drivers, and because the layout would be confusing.

Muirhead said it’s good that the government is listening to the people, though he added it’s disappointing it took this long. The municipal government had been pushing for a change from the current design at the intersection for years, he said.

The intersection’s current layout has stop signs for drivers on Highway 5, and they can turn in both directions.

“I just think an overpass is going to be the absolute answer,” Muirhead said.

The RCUT model was expected to cost roughly $20 million, Dustin Booy, an official with Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure, said at the June open house.

“I would say the safety factor outweighs the price tag. Nothing’s cheap,” Muirhead said.

“In the interest of safety, I think this is paramount to cost.”

He said there have been many accidents at the intersection over the years, and a lot of close calls.

Ray Drayson, the reeve of the Rural Municipality of North Cypress-Langford — where the intersection is located — said Monday he hadn’t heard any news about an overpass.

He said he has mixed feelings about any design for the intersection, but is opposed to an RCUT.

“It doesn’t matter what we put there, it’s still the driver behind the wheel that’s responsible for anything that happens,” Drayson said.

The municipality will accept whatever the province decides, he said, and “hopefully it works.”

— Brandon Sun