Highway 75 revisited: Four ideas to keep road open

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/04/2009 (6268 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THERE are four ideas to keep Highway 75 open in a flood such as this year:

1) Raise the Highway 75 bridge over the Morris River where the highway comes into town.

Pro: It would keep traffic flowing.

Con: A new bridge would have to be a lot higher and would eat up a lot of property, never mind dollars.

2) Build a west bypass around Morris.

Pro: Would direct highway traffic around the town within the dike system.

Con: It’s expensive as interchanges would also have to be built, plus there are railway tracks to cross.

3) Raise all of Highway 75 from Winnipeg to Emerson to the 1997 flood level plus two feet.

Pro: The highway is being raised as older sections of the highway are replaced.

Con: Building up the entire stretch of Highway 75 does little good if I-29 in North Dakota is not built up to the same level.

4) Create an east bypass around the flood zone via the existing Highway 23 bridge from Morris over the Red River and twin St. Mary’s Road on the east side of the river north to Aubigny, where the PR 205 bridge over the Red River would take traffic back on to Highway 75.

Pro: The two bridges are already there and the roads stay dry during nuisance flood years.

Con: The cost of paving St. Mary’s Road — it’s gravel now — and dealing with the village of Aubigny, which does not want to be in the middle of a busy 24/7 truck route.