It’s been years in the making, and finally in October it became reality.
Highway 11 is officially twinned all the way from Prince Albert through to Regina, connecting the province’s three largest cities.
On October 25, highway workers pulled away pylons along a long stretch of road when signalled by walkie talkie that the highway was finally open.
While the Saskatchewan Party welcomed the completion with a complicated and well-orchestrated unveil, the new road actually started with the NDP. Project history
At the end of November, NDP Athabasca MLA Buckley Belanger, deputy whip and critic for highways, was critical of the other party.
“They are always worried about photo ops and PR, this government in the Prince Albert area should be fighting for things that Prince Albert needs right now like a second bridge, better highways, and more training programs,” said Belanger.
He cited the Highway 11 twinning as the latest example of a project that the Sask Party was trying to take complete credit for.
Sask Party MLA for Prince Albert Northcote Victoria Jergens had a very different perspective in a Nov. 18 column, saying “Recently, our government completed twinning Highway 11. This is something the former NDP government promised to do and never did. That is a broken promise.”
Following a multi-year development and design process, the NDP started to twin the highway starting in Osler in 2006.
When the NDP lost the majority in 2007, the Saskatchewan Party took over. The province originally expected it to be completed by about 2017.
However, the federal government stepped in to contribute half the cost of the last 75 km, which ended up being $49.5 million each from the province and federal government.
Twinning work progressed stretch by stretch over the following six years.
Construction affects businesses and communities
The construction didn’t just affect people’s commute; it also affected communities and businesses over those six years.
In 2010, local company Gaudet Trees that retails Christmas trees had to make a big change. The highway project ran right through the company’s plantation. All the trees were saved and moved to a new location.
As for bedroom communities along Highway 11 between Saskatoon and Prince Albert, some felt the pinch as traffic now routes around many towns rather than through them.
Duck Lake is one of them. It recently introduced free municipal taxes for the next three years to draw people to the community.
“Russell Hanson's RCMP Museum used to be right along the highway that was Glen Scrimshaw's gallery. When the highway went right through there, a lot of people would stop in. We noticed a significant difference once the highway went by,” said Mayor Denis Poirier.
To defend the impact, Prince Albert Carlton MLA Darryl Hickie pointed to the need for safety.
“In major highway projects in North America that we’re aware of, you don’t see a twinned highway going through those communities because it’s a safety issue. But highways works very closely, of course looking at cost values as well, and taking the communities into consideration… that we’re going to make sure they can get access in and out of their cities, and towns and communities safely, and that’s the most important thing here,” he said.
Those last 75 kilometres of twinned highway came with a price tag of more than $100 million.
However, it wasn’t without its, excuse the pun, roadblocks. It was set for completion in fall of 2012, but due to weather and contractor delays the completion date was pushed back. The final stretch of the 75 kilometer project was completed this past fall.
Government uses twinning to emphasize economic growth in the north
“This isn’t just getting from point A to point B. This highway is so much more. Growth is a key here,” Darryl Hickie said to a crowd of politicians, media and highways workers on October 25 before the highway officially opened.
He pointed to some impressive statistics on how many vehicles have traveled between Saskatoon and Prince Albert, which he referred to as the gateway to the north and a major tourist corridor.
In 2011, 13,700 vehicles left Corman Park in Saskatoon on the highway per day. Now over 20,000 vehicles pound the pavement every day.
With file's from Nigel Maxwell and Sarah Wallace
claskowski@panow.com
On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk
