Carberry residents not convinced of province’s highway safety plan

A group of residents near Carberry say they are concerned the Manitoba government favours a safety upgrade option at the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 5 that they believe isn’t practical.

“It just doesn’t make sense for this farming community,” said Debra Steen about a restricted crossing U-turn, or RCUT. The design is widely used in the U.S. but not in Canada.

To prevent drivers from crossing the divided highway directly, drivers would turn right onto the main road, weave toward a dedicated U-turn lane at the median, then make the turn and double back.

Steen and her husband Garth are grain farmers who live just east of the intersection. She said many residents are concerned the province and consultant Landmark Planning favour the RCUT over the other two options: widening the median on the Trans-Canada or building a roundabout.

The redesign was sparked by the June 15, 2023 tragedy in which a minibus that was taking seniors from the Dauphin area to a casino south of Carberry was hit by a semi-trailer.

Seventeen people died and eight were injured.

The province brought in a consultant to study potential redesigns of the intersection; it released its report in January 2024.

Residents opposed to an RCUT plan to hold a rally on a service road near the intersection on May 22 to get the government’s attention.

Steen worries some drivers will use other roads to cross the Trans-Canada, including the one she lives on, rather than use a redesigned intersection. Farmers and truckers are particularly concerned about how to navigate large equipment through an RCUT.

Steen said Landmark Planning’s traffic study, which was conducted in the summer, could not have captured the extent of farm traffic during the fall harvest and spring planting.

“If you’ve experienced this intersection during those busy months… I foresee the trucks and semis lined up on Highway 1 waiting to make that turn on the RCUT, and you’re going to have people running into the back of semis, there’s going to be stationary traffic,” she said.

While the province and Landmark Planning have held engagement sessions on the proposed redesign, Steen said residents believe their concerns are being disregarded.

Carberry Mayor Ray Muirhead agreed it appears the province is leaning toward an RCUT.

“They had discussed at the last public meeting… RCUT seems to be the safest measure of everything discussed, but studies and computer models are different from the real world,” said Muirhead.

Muirhead said he’s on the fence. He said the town initially hoped an overpass would be built, but he noted it would be expensive.

“I just don’t know what to think about it. I find, myself, that you don’t want to complicate things. Drivers get used to driving in straight lines, north-south, east-west, merging,” said Muirhead.

“There are too many questions and not enough answers.”

Premier Wab Kinew said Thursday the province wants to hear from residents through the consultation process.

“It calls on us to make sure that we get this right, so that’s why we’re talking to people in the area.”

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Muirhead said a third engagement meeting with the province’s consultant is planned in the next month or two.

A provincial spokesperson said the design process is ongoing.

“The project remains on schedule with construction set to begin in early 2026, with opening to traffic expected in fall 2026,” the spokesperson said Thursday.

— with files from Carol Sanders

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.