A westbound look at the newly twinned stretch of highway 3. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Road challenges

Local residents and businesses wave flags over Highway 3 twinning

Feb 3, 2023 | 5:00 PM

A highway twinning upgrade west of Prince Albert appears to be dividing local residents.

The loss of access is one of the key concerns expressed by the businesses that occupy the seven-kilometre stretch of Highway 3. As in the case of Dmyterko Enterprises, westbound traffic can no longer enter directly from the highway, and must now go down to Whitfield Road before circling back.

Business owner Perry Dmyterko explained they ultimately decided to close their car wash for the winter, as the only way vehicles could now access it was through the back of their compound next door.

“Of course, I’m not gonna let the public go through my compound from seven in the morning until nine at night when the car wash is usually open,” he said.

Dmyterko added there was a road that ran west and they were under the assumption it would remain but that was taken out too.

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A look at Dmyterko from the south side of the highway. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

Clark’s Roofing is located next door and the owner has expressed an equal amount of frustration about the access change. Branch manager Ron Boschetti noted they have been open for a few years

“We have this land and it’s wasted now. We can’t do anything with it,” he said.

Reiterating Dmyterko’s comments, Boschetti also said they were led to believe the elimination of the front access road was not part of the original plan.

“And no one was consulted about it. Just one day we were told this is it,” he said.

Ellen MacNeill lives along the south side of the highway and has written a number of complaint letters to the government. Describing the government’s plan to address safety concerns as wonky, she said there’s no easy way for people to cross the highway at Whitfield Road”

“There’s a lot of people who want to cross that road,” she said.

MacNeill misses the days when she could easily cross the intersection at Whitfield Road. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

Added to MacNeill’s frustration is the planned installation of some 200 overhead lights.

“Talk about overkill. This is rural Saskatchewan, Prince Albert. Like, why do we need highway lights like they have through the middle of Toronto,” she said.

Calls to twin the highway escalated in early 2021 after three lives were lost in a pair of separate crashes before Christmas.

And according to statistics provided at the time by Buckland Reeve Don Fyrk, there were over 400 collisions on Highway 3 between Prince Albert and Shellbrook in the last decade. From those, 67 resulted in some form of personal injury and there were five fatalities.

In her letter to the government, MacNeill argued there is very little to no traffic going by at night, and that the tall poles are ugly and take away the rural feel.

“Engineers came up with this ridiculous plan which were [sic] approved by the powers that be, and the people impacted the most by the plans were not consulted. This is appalling,” she wrote.

paNOW also reached out to both Parkland Ambulance and Buckland Fire Dept. A spokesperson for the ambulance service said they have had no impact on response times.

In turn a spokesperson for the volunteer fire dept. confirmed they also have not experienced any issues but also added they have access to the gate directly across the highway from the fire department, and have worked on contingency plans to deal with the new construction.

Response from the government

Highways minister Jeremy Cockrill, who is also the MLA for the Battlefords, spoke to paNOW over the phone Friday and acknowledged whenever a major highway improvement project is undertaken, there is always feedback from the public. He soon after added the response with respect to this project has been quite positive.

“This is a busy stretch of highway and the people who drive that highway every day I think are quite grateful there’s more capacity on this corridor now and its a safer corridor to drive now than it was before,” he said.

Commenting specifically on the concrete barrier that runs down the middle of the road, and concerns related to loss of access, Cockrill explained a number of changes were made to improve safety.

“You have to reduce access points to improve safety,” he said, adding accidents tend to happen most often at intersections.

“Obviously removing some access is gonna cause some inconvenience, we understand that. We try and work with the local communities and local stakeholders so people are kept abreast of those changes that are coming,” he said.

Cockrill also addressed MacNeill’s concerns related to the lights and explained they serve multiple purposes, not the least of which is to improve visibility for the wide variety of vehicles that currently travel the highway on a daily basis (semi-trucks and cars), and those that will be travelling the highway with the impending opening of the OSB plant and the pulp mill.

“Especially this time of year, it’s dark during commuting hours”, Cockrill said, there must also be consideration given to help drivers see the wildlife that may be crossing the road.

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nigelmaxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell