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A major highways project aimed to improve safety is in its final phase.
The province is working on upgrading Highway 5 between Saskatoon and Humboldt, one of the most dangerous highways in the province, and construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2027.
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Recently, key work on a 15-km segment in the St. Denis area was completed.
The work has included things like shoulder widening and a set of passing lanes added, along with resurfacing and the re-alignment of two roads connecting to Highway 5.
The project first started in 2018, when the addition of two sets of passing lanes were completed between Humboldt and Highway 2.
Then in 2021, more resurfacing, sight line improvements, shoulder widening and related work was completed between the junctions of highways 316 and 671, and in 2023 a 15-km stretch of Highway 5, immediately west of Highway 2 saw the addition of one set of passing lanes.
David Marit, Minister of Highways, said the route was due for some much needed improvements.
“The highway was narrow, the shoulders were steep, the sight lines were terrible,” he said.
“The highway followed the terrain and it really wasn’t good.”
The new highway has less peaks and valleys.
As construction enters the final stage, which includes twinning to be followed by resurfacing and associated works on a 10-km segment east of Saskatoon, Marit said he doesn’t expect there to be major delays or stoppages for travellers.
“… there might be some at the very end when they’re connecting things,” he said. “I really don’t see any major slowdown, no stoppages, you might see a slowdown for five or six kms.”
Marit said the approaching winter would slow down the amount of construction they do.
“… In the winter … (workers will) haul the gravel in so they have all the material here for when they start in spring.”
The Highway 5 improvements will also provide a boost for the City of Humboldt.
“If you build it they will come,” Marit said.
“I think you’ll see even more of it (traffic), because there probably was a lot of people that didn’t use the highway because of safety factors.”
The improvements have also been welcomed by the Saskatchewan Mining Association.
Pamela Schwann, president of Saskatchewan Mining Association, said the improvements are also an incentive to use the highway.
“These improvements really enhance safety,” she said. “Although our potash leaves by rail, all the supplies that come into the (BHP Jansen) mine are coming in by road, so it’s important for our economic quarters as well.”
Schwann said a better road is particularly important when it comes to procurement.
“Procurement is about on-time delivery,” she said. “If you’ve got a corridor that’s inefficient, that hampers everything along that supply chain.”
While Marit wasn’t able to specify what highways in the province would be next for improvement, he did say there are many piquing interest.
“We can never do it all at once, there’s always more to do… we always say we’re going to do 1,000 kms a year.”
— with files from CKOM News
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