‘Hope it holds up’: Highway 75 repairs bring renewed calls for increased safety By: Chris Kitching Posted: 5:53 PM CDT Tuesday, Jun. 13, 2023

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This article was published 13/06/2023 (1174 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Work has started on a $61-million reconstruction of a dangerous section of Highway 75, prompting calls for additional repairs and better upkeep of the vital route between Winnipeg and the Canada-U.S. border.

While citing concerns about potholes and chunks of concrete in southbound lanes, commuters and truckers told the Free Press the Manitoba government must ensure the entire highway is kept in good and safe condition.

“It seems like it’s one of the worst roads in Manitoba. There are a lot of bad roads but this one is extremely bad,” said Steinbach-area truck driver Eddie Friesen.

Friesen is recovering from serious injuries he suffered in February, when a 1.3-kilogram piece of the road smashed through his truck’s windshield and hit him on the left side of his head.

He said the concrete was kicked up by a tractor-trailer while both vehicles were headed south near Emerson.

“I never saw it coming until it hit me,” Friesen told the Free Press on Tuesday. “I’m doing OK, considering everything that I’ve gone through.”

He suffered a cracked skull, brain trauma, a crushed eye socket and cheekbone, and fractures to his nose and jaw.

The commercial driver will undergo additional surgeries. He is unsure if or when he will be able to return to work.

Before the incident, he used Highway 75 — a crucial trade and tourism corridor which runs through several communities — at least a couple times a week during his trips to and from the U.S.

A spokesperson for Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure said work began May 15 to redo the concrete on a roughly 25-kilometre stretch of the southbound lanes between Ste. Agathe and Morris.

The work is being split into two projects, with both contracts awarded to Nelson River Construction.

“I never saw it coming until it hit me.”–Eddie Friesen

One phase is from Provincial Road 305 to PR 205, while the other is from PR 205 to just north of Morris.

A manager with Nelson River said the company cannot comment due to a confidentiality agreement in the contracts.

Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk previously said the work should be completed by Oct. 31.

Until the southbound lanes reopen, there will be two-way traffic on the northbound side of the highway.

“There’s going to be lots of wear and tear on those lanes,” said Julie French, who commutes three days a week between her home in Winnipeg and St. Jean Baptiste.

While they welcomed the overhaul, French and Friesen said the highway should not be allowed to deteriorate.

“Just to fix it right, so we don’t have to go through this again,” said Friesen.

“I just hope it holds up,” French said of the current reconstruction, adding patchwork on scarred sections of the road doesn’t seem to last long.

The northbound lanes were in rough shape until similar repairs were carried out a few years ago, French noted.

She and Friesen also want the province to redo the southbound lanes between Morris and the border. That stretch, they said, poses similar hazards to all road users.

The MTI spokesperson said other sections of Highway 75 will be considered in future capital programs.

Meantime, heaving is a problem every spring and summer, said French.

A recent example occurred June 2, when a section heaved near Letellier.

Heat was believed to be the cause, said RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Julie Courchaine, adding the lanes reopened about three hours later, after repairs.

RCMP officers helped to shut lanes, direct traffic and remove some of the “major” debris, said Courchaine.

Highway 75 is regularly compared to U.S. Interstate 29, which extends south from the Emerson-Pembina, N.D., border crossing.

During a stop Tuesday in Kansas, tractor-trailer driver Gerald Fotty said he prefers doing runs to and from the U.S., because its highways are in better shape.

Fotty said he has raised his concerns about Highway 75 during conversations with MTI staff. He used the highway Monday during his drive south.

“The southbound stretch is just terrible from Ste. Agathe to the border,” said the Stonewall resident.

Chris Lorenc, president and chief executive officer of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association, said Highway 75 is crucial because it moves about $19-billion worth of trade each year.

He said the differences between Highway 75 and Interstate 29 come down to the U.S. having a program that provides permanent and sustained funding for a national highway system.

The U.S. interstate system is primarily funded by a federal fuel tax.

“That has generated an interstate highway system that is properly invested in and properly maintained,” said Lorenc.

Manitoba Trucking Association executive director Aaron Dolyniuk said the current upgrades to Highway 75 were “long-needed,” and the organization is looking forward to the project’s completion.

Dolyniuk said the province is pursuing a trade corridor strategy, which he hopes will help to prioritize highways in need of further updates or maintenance.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching