Work on Highways 2 and 3 near Prince Albert is clicking along thanks in part to the drier weather. (File Photo/paNOW Staff)

By Rob Mahon

Completing Construction

Province completing passing lanes on two highways near Prince Albert

Aug 19, 2021 | 12:00 PM

The long list of construction projects in the Prince Albert area will be wrapped up by the end of fall, each of which will make travel a lot more efficient.

Another, larger project is in the works for next year as well.

Passing lane construction on Highway 2 north of the city is completed, and on Highway 3 toward Shellbrook, the construction is slated to be done this season. From there, the province will move on to a more ambitious project on Highway 3.

“There are passing lanes under construction there,” said Fred Bradshaw, Minister for Highways. “We plan on twinning out there for just a smidgen over seven kilometers later on. The tender will be later this fall.”

Other passing lanes on Highway 2 finished on budget and actually a little earlier than planned. The province has placed an emphasis on passing lanes in recent years, with highway construction from Prince Albert to Weyburn.

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“We’ve actually put in 27 passing lanes in the last four years and we plan on putting in another 30 passing lanes,” Bradshaw said. “The reason is for safety. We’re trying to make our highways safe, and passing lanes are one way we can do that, to help improve safety on our highways within the province.”

The projects have proved popular so far, and to that end the province has far more of them planned. Bradshaw said the feedback he’s gotten on them so far has only encouraged the province to keep it up.

“The thing on passing lanes is obviously they’re cheaper than building a four-lane highway,” he said. “It works out very well. We can put down way more passing lanes than what we can do with four-lane type of stuff.”

Much of the construction the province had planned for this summer finished early, just like their work on Highway 2. The same dry conditions that gave farmers a headache actually made life easier for construction crews.

“We’ve had a very busy year,” said Bradshaw. “We put a $300 million stimulus fund out there with highways to work on all of our highways within the province. It’s been moving along… We’ve got 1350 kilometers of work (done) this year on highways.”

Bradshaw added recent work on Highway 11 south on the way to Saskatoon was an engineered seal on about 25 kilometers between Rosthern and Osler. They also did about five kilometers of the same work on Highway 11 just north of Osler.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP