Making a busy intersection safer

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This article was published 14/06/2019 (2410 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The thousands of motorists who drive through the intersection at Highway 3/McGillivray Boulevard and the Perimeter Highway will soon be travelling on a safer route.

Excavation and surfacing work is now underway next to the Oak Bluff interchange with a finish date of mid-August.

Manitoba Infrastructure’s director of regional operations Doug Struthers explained that much of the work is being done to lengthen the left and right turn lanes for traffic heading south on the Perimeter Highway and wanting to turn left onto McGillivray or right onto Highway 3.

The right-hand turning lane off McGillivray for traffic heading north on the Perimeter Highway will also be lengthened.

“We are increasing the capacity and making the intersection more efficient,” Struthers said. By giving vehicles that are turning more space to wait for the signal light, the through traffic can flow faster, and long wait times will be reduced.

This work is part of the long-range South Perimeter Highway Design Study that will eventually see the south Perimeter Highway from Portage to Fermor Avenues become a freeway with limited access points. The plan also includes a western bypass of the St. Norbert neighbourhood from PTH 75, south of PR 24 and running north to the Perimeter Highway at Kenaston Boulevard.

Work on the Perimeter Highway project began last October when 26 median access points on the highway between Fermor and Portage Avenues were blocked. Struthers said these former access points are now being reconstructed to blend with the surrounding median structure.
However two access points in the RM of Macdonald — one near Central Veterinary Services and the other between Oak Bluff and the Wilkes Avenue overpass — are being constructed for restricted use by emergency and unlicensed agricultural vehicles.

“We held focus groups with farmers and picked two locations,” Struthers said.

The current work also includes improvements to a service road, used by commercial and industrial businesses in the Oak Bluff Industrial Park, between its junctions with Highway 3 and Macdonald Road. Part of the upgrading includes installing traffic lights that will be used to move traffic to and from the service road.

Struthers said extension of the Oak Bluff service road across rail tracks to connect with Wilkes Avenue is set to take place in 2020.

For more information on the South Perimeter Highway Safety Plan and Design Study, see https://www.gov.mb.ca/mit/hpd/pth100