Manitoba commits $213M to upgrade stretch of Trans-Canada

The Manitoba government says it is making the largest-ever investment in the Trans-Canada Highway since its construction more than 40 years ago.

The province intends to spend $213 million on a series of projects along the 320-kilometre stretch from Winnipeg to the Saskatchewan boundary.

The projects involvedfullypaving theshoulders, installing rumble strips, resurfacing, improving intersectionsand building new bridges, Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Steve Ashton announced on Monday.

"This announcement is historic. I want to stressagain, this is the biggest single investment that we're going to see on the Trans-Canada Highway since it was constructed," Ashton told reporters in Winnipeg.

"We're going to full standards," he added, describing "full standards" as "equivalent to the Interstate in the U.S., equivalent to any highway across Canada."

Funding for the Trans-Canada upgrades will come from revenue that has beengenerated sincethe provincial sales tax was raised to eight per cent last year, Ashton said.

Speed limit increase a possibility

Once the work is completed,the provincial government may consider raising the speed limit in some sections from 100 km/hto 110a possibility that has the approval of CAA Manitoba.

"The ability to move about the province [in] an efficient manner is very important to our members, so a 110 [km/h speed limit] in the areas that allow for it would very welcomed by our members," said Tim Scott, CAA Manitoba's vice-president of marketing and sales.

Terry Shaw of the Manitoba Trucking Associationsays he likes the plans for road resurfacing and shoulder paving, as well as bridge upgrades.

"The rehabilitation of the bridge is to ensure that we can operate at full legal weights as opposed to potentially reduced weights," he said.

"It's investments like these that allow us to find those efficiencies and operate at maximum capacity."

The highway projects expected to begin this summer include:

• 14.8 kilometresof paving of the westbound lanes, including shoulders and adding rumble strips from the Portage la Prairie bypass to Highway13.
• Sevenkilometresof paving of the eastbound lanes including shoulders, starting from justwest of the YellowheadHighway intersection.
• 27.4 kilometresof micro-surfacing from Highway 351 to Highway34
• Five kilometres of micro-surfacing of the eastbound lanes starting from the junction of Highway10.
• 6.2 kilometres of micro-surfacing of the eastbound lanes from Highway 270 to Highway10.
• 16.1 kilometres of high-performance chip seals (pavement preservation treatment)of the eastbound lanes from 13.2 kilometreseast of Highway 41 to Highway83.

The remaining projects will be completed by 2020 as part of a multi-year plan that would not be possible without devoting all of the new revenue from the one-cent-on-the-dollar sales tax increase, said Ashton.

The remaining projects include:

• Intersection improvements between Headingleyand Highway 334.
• Intersection improvements between Camp Manitou Road and the John Blumberg Golf Course.
• Sixkilometres of paving of the east and westbound lanes, including shoulders from Highway26 to Gaol Road.
• 16 kilometres of paving of the east and westbound lanes, including shoulders from Highway 248 to Highway26.
• 18.8 kilometresof paving of the east and westbound lanes, including shoulders from Highway13 to Highway 248.
• Structure rehabilitation on the westbound lanes at Assiniboine River, about one kilometre west of Highway26.
• Structure replacement on the westbound lanes at La Salle River, one kilometrewest of Highway13.
• Structure replacement on thePortage la Prairie bypass.
• Structure rehabilitation on the eastbound lanes at Portage la Prairie diversion.
• 35 kilometres of paving of the east and westbound lanes from the Yellowhead Highway intersection toone kilometrewest of Highway34.
• 1.2 kilometresof gravel road restoration of the north-side service road in Brandon.