Highways Minister Fred Bradshaw is accompanied at Monday's ribbon cutting ceremony by local MLAs Alana Ross, Delbert Kirsch and Joe Hargrave; along with Shellbrook Mayor Amund Otterson and RM of Shellbrook Reeve Doug Oleksyn. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Transportation

New passing lanes west of Prince Albert officially opened

Oct 18, 2021 | 1:36 PM

A highway improvement west of Prince Albert, designed to save lives and accomodate increasing demands from local industry, has officially been completed.

A ribbon cutting ceremony Monday marked the end of work on three sets of passing lanes on Highway 3 west. The $9.1 million project was officially announced by the government in Spring of 2020.

Highways Minister Fred Bradshaw explained that with a number of big announcements recently from companies like Paper Excellence, it’s become even more important to ensure there is a safe and reliable transportation system.

“We are going to have a lot more logging trucks going on there so this is going to make it a lot safer for the people who are commuting back and forth between Shellbrook and also for all the trucking companies that are going to be operating,” he said.

Highway Minister Fred Bradshaw. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

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According to statistics provided earlier by the Reeve for the Rural Municipality (RM) of Buckland, there has been 414 collisions on Highway 3 between Prince Albert and Shellbrook in the last decade. From those, 67 have resulted in some form of personal injury and there has been five fatalities including the three lives lost just before Christmas last year. Less than two kilometres from where the MLAs gathered Monday, was a vigil marking one of those deaths. Bradshaw said he believes the new passing lanes will make a difference.

“We found everywhere where we have put in passing lanes the accident rate has gone way down,” he said.

Prince Albert Carlton MLA Joe Hargrave looks on as RM of Shellbrook Reeve Doug Oleksyn expresses his gratitude seeing the project complete. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

This passing lane project is one of many highway construction projects in the Prince Albert area. This past July saw the opening of five sets of passing lanes on Highway 2 north and later this fall, pre-construction is scheduled to begin on about seven kilometres of twinning west of Prince Albert. Bradshaw anticipated ground breaking to begin next year.

RM of Shellbrook Reeve Doug Oleksyn, who was also on hand for Monday’s announcement, acknowledged the construction delays have been challenging.

“There’s that short term pain and now you have the gain,” he said.

Shellbrook Mayor Amund Otterson agreed the new passing lanes will help commuters.

“It will help reduce stress and provide a better quality of life as a result,” he said

This vigil, located just east of Monday’s press conference, is a visible reminder of the tragedies that have occurred along Highway 3 West. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

Construction of 30 new sets of passing lanes have and will be added to Saskatchewan’s road network over next year, which is in addition to 27 sets of passing lanes built in the last four years.

As part of its ten year Growth Plan, the Government of Saskatchewan committed to build and improve 10,000 kilometres of provincial roads and highways. More than 1,350 kilometres were improved this year.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell