Advance warning signs planned for site of deadly bus crash
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/08/2023 (809 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The province is adding new signage to a deadly western Manitoba intersection while it awaits results of a road safety review after another serious crash closed the Highway 5 crossing on the Trans-Canada Highway — less than two months after a mass casualty collision.
Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk said existing rumble strips and pavement markings will be refreshed and enhanced at the intersection just north of Carberry within the next two weeks. Advance warning signs indicating the busy crossing will be installed thereafter.
“We want to make sure it’s safe for all Manitobans and all Canadians and tourists that travel through that intersection,” Piwniuk said Tuesday.
Interim measures will also include swapping out yield signs for stop signs at the crossing.
Long-term measures should include a long-overdue overpass, said former Carberry mayor Stuart Olmstead, calling signage changes a “Band-Aid solution.”
“It’s been an ongoing issue for years, for decades,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “Everyone in town has a story about that intersection, to some degree.”
RCMP officers and tow truck operators work at the scene of a three vehicle collision at the intersection of Highway 5 and the Trans Canada Highway just north of Carberry on Monday evening. Three people involved were taken to hospital. (Tim Smith / The Brandon Sun)
Olmstead, who sat on Carberry’s council for eight years before serving as mayor for another eight, said area officials sent letters to the province advocating for infrastructure upgrades at the intersection at least every two years.
“It was designed back in the ‘60s, waiting for an overpass that they said would be coming anywhere between 50 to 60 years,” he said. “We’re at that point now, and really, with the amount of traffic that’s going by, that’s what’s required.”
On Monday, three people were seriously injured in a three-vehicle collision around 4:45 p.m. near Carberry, according to the RCMP.
One was taken to a Winnipeg hospital; two were treated at nearby hospitals.
According to police, a pickup truck headed southbound on Hwy. 5 entered the intersection and collided with an eastbound SUV. The two vehicles then collided with a third vehicle waiting at a stop sign on Hwy. 5, south of the Trans-Canada.
On June 15, a southbound minibus carrying 25 seniors from Dauphin was hit by an eastbound semi-trailer at the same intersection. Seventeen people died.
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Three injured in crash at infamous Trans-Canada and Carberry intersection
Municipality of North Cypress-Langford and Town of Carberry officials have long called for changes at the intersection, which area residents have described as dangerous, scary and confusing.
“I sometimes think I am taking my life into my own hands when I go through that intersection,” said Carberry resident Beth Proven, who uses the crossing twice daily to commute to work.
Proven said traffic lights and signs indicating how fast vehicles are travelling on the Trans-Canada are two options that would make her feel safer. Existing signage for speed limits and indicating the intersection are not enough, she added.
“At this point, because it’s such a national news story, this is our moment in time to get our elected politicians to pay attention to this and to demand that something be done,” Proven said.
Last month, the officials with the two rural communities issued a joint statement calling on the Manitoba government to make “immediate temporary safety improvements” to the intersection and for a thorough review of the crossing with long-term safety plans implemented to “ensure that something like this (fatal minibus crash) does not happen again.”
“Over the years, there have been many serious collisions, including several fatalities,” the statement reads. “With the increase of traffic with tourism, industrial, agricultural, and overall growth in our region, this intersection has become increasingly busy.
“You do not need to be at this intersection very long to see the confusion and danger caused by the current design.”
RCMP officers and tow truck operators work at the scene of a three-vehicle collision at the intersection of Highway 5 and the Trans-Canada Highway just north of Carberry on Monday evening. (Tim Smith / The Brandon Sun)
A petition by the Town of Carberry calling for greater safety at the intersection has garnered more than 2,000 signatures.
“Something needs to be done,” Mayor Ray Muirhead said. “I mean, this has been going on for decades… We’re working in conjunction with North Cypress-Langford because it happened in there, but it’s basically on our doorstep.”
According to Muirhead, the municipalities met with representatives from Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure last week to kick-start the process.
Muirhead said traffic lights or reduced speeds could be a starting point.
“We realize… there are thousands and thousands of intersections across Manitoba like this, but, unfortunately, we’re the one with the worst reputation.”
The Municipality of North Cypress-Langford declined to comment Tuesday.
According to the province, a road safety review will be completed this fall, though the transportation department is waiting for the Mounties to conclude their investigation into the June crash.
A memorial to the June 15 collision between a bus and a semi-truck that claimed the lives of 17 passengers sits just south of the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 5. (Tim Smith / The Brandon Sun)
Piwniuk said the review will look at lowering the speed limit in the vicinity and adding traffic lights, among other options. An external engineering firm has been hired to conduct the review.
“Any time we do any kind of study, we always get input from all the municipalities and any businesses in that area, just to make sure that when we do a study we listen to everybody in that area,” Piwniuk said.
The minister was unable to say Tuesday whether the review and its findings would be made public.
Major infrastructure changes that address at-grade crossings with the Trans-Canada Highway will be part of future transportation planning, the Turtle Mountain MLA said.
“It’s important for the Manitoba public to know what we can do better.”
— with files from Cierra Bettens, The Brandon Sun
danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca