Alexandtra Zbaraschuk stands next to Highways Minister Fred Bradshaw (far left) and MLAs Alana Ross and Joe Hargrave near the site of where her small car was hit by a semi on Highway 3. (Susan McNeil/paNOW Staff)

By Susan McNeil

Highway 3 twinning

Teen can’t recall Highway 3 collision

May 13, 2022 | 2:06 PM

Alexandra Zbaraschuk doesn’t remember much from the day her small car was on the highway near R & W Collision three years ago.

Her car stalled, she was as hit by the semi and that is the extent of her memory.

“I came to get my car, when I proceeded to the highway, my car ended up stalling and all I remember is getting hit,” she said.

When she woke up, she was in the hospital and couldn’t understand why she could not get in her car and keep driving. It took weeks before she understood the severity of the crash and her injuries.

Today, Zbaraschuk was part of the official announcement by the province that the stretch of highway between Prince Albert and the Shell River bridge would be twinned.

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“I was really excited,” she said of hearing that her work in advocating for making the highway safer would pay off. “I thought maybe it would help other people survive.”

MLA for Prince Albert – Northcote, Alana Ross, whose riding abuts the area that is being twinned, is well aware of the dangers facing drivers on what was a winding, two-lane highway with many blind spots.

She spent 10 years driving the highway between Shellbrook and the city for work.

“I had two or three really close calls. It’s a busy highway or people get frustrated, or road conditions are such that you don’t see when you pull out to pass,” she said.

While safety is one of the factors in deciding where money will be spent on infrastructure such as highways, so are economics.

In the next short while, Prince Albert will see the re-opening of the pulp mill, the construction of an OSB mill and other potential industrial opportunities, such as the possible development of a diamond mine north of the city in the Fort a la Corne forest.

Use for transporting agricultural equipment is an additional factor.

Both Ross and Minister of Highways, Fred Bradshaw, said that Highway 3 has seen increased use.

Also north of the city is lake country, so a lot of the traffic can be going towards Waskesiu or the Christopher and Candle Lake areas.

“I noticed from the time I started working until recently that commuter traffic has increased exponentially,” said Ross.

The numbers represent the volume of vehicles in a particular stretch of time. The counts were taken in 2020. (Screenshot/Sask. Ministry of Highways)

Bradshaw pointed out that twinning the nearly eight kilometres of highway is part of a larger overall effort by the province on improving highway safety, such as adding 50 passing lanes and clearing highway intersections of visual blocks, a move brought on by the 2018 collision that killed 16 members of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team.

The increased volume of traffic played a significant role too, he said and it is expected to grow even more.

“With Paper Excellence, with Big Sky and whatnot coming into Prince Albert, we’re going to see more truck traffic from that particular direction also,” Bradshaw said.

The cost of the construction is $21.4 million with work already started. It is expected to be complete this fall.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow