Highway 3 west of Prince Albert has seen a number of collisions recently. (File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Provincial budget

Portion of Highway 3 to be twinned, planning for P.A. Hospital expansion continues

Apr 6, 2021 | 6:07 PM

There’s big news for a local highway in the 2021-2022 provincial budget, but no definitive timeline for the promised Victoria Hospital expansion.

Approximately eight kilometers of Highway 3 will be twinned between Prince Albert and the Shell River Bridge, Minister of Highways Fred Bradshaw told paNOW.

The government will tender the project this fall and start work in spring of 2022, Bradshaw said. It’s expected to be completed by the end of the 2022 construction season.

Bradshaw noted the upgraded road will be especially important given that forestry activity is expected to pick up in the area.

Local Sask Party MLA Nadine Wilson said she’s pleased to see the project, which is so important to her constituents, go ahead.

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“This will be much more efficient and safe for all the residents who use it,” said Wilson, who represents Saskatchewan Rivers.

She added twinning the highway will also benefit the province as whole because of the large amount of resources transported on it.

Calls to twin the highway gained new momentum this winter after three lives were lost in a pair of separate crashes before Christmas.

In a separate but related project, three sets of passing lanes will also be installed on Highway 3 between Prince Albert and Shellbrook this summer.

Planning continues for hospital

The provincial budget includes $1.4 million dollars for “ongoing work on the program and design plans for the Prince Albert Victoria Hospital.”

NDP Health Critic Vicki Mowat told paNOW that amount of money is “a drop in the bucket” and it’s “disappointing.”

“It just shows that the government is dragging their feet on this promise [to build a new hospital],” she said.

Meanwhile Prince Albert Carlton MLA Joe Hargrave said the speed with which the hospital expansion is moving is typical of large projects.

“The planning has been done. What’s happening now is with the drafting and the engineering,” Hargrave said. “They’ve got to do it right. I wish it was done and we were scratching dirt right now, but I know it does take time.”

Hargrave said he’s optimistic there will be “something much different in the next budget” and we could potentially see construction on the hospital expansion start in 2022.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom