By Kayla Bruch

No date set for highway re-opening

Sep 21, 2014 | 8:40 AM

Highway 302 west still remains in ruins and the community is tired of waiting for the repairs to be complete. 

NDP critic for highways and infrastructure, Buckley Belanger, has been working with community members in Prince Albert and surrounding areas to demand quicker repairs to the damaged highway. Belanger said the project end date was originally June 24th.

“Four and a half months later and well over two million bucks and the culvert still hasn’t been installed,” said Belanger.

Dale Ksyniuk, Division Six Councillor for the RM of Duck Lake, has spoken to many residents and companies. He said the highway road closure is a huge headache for anyone making the commute.

“Basically they have to go on a 14km gravel detour,” said Ksyniuk. “The road has been re-graveled twice by department of highways. ”
Ksyniuk said the detour road was never made to handle the increase of traffic. This means every vehicle that travels on the gravel has a lot of extra wear and tear.

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“Gravel roads are usually set up for one or two vehicles that live on those roads, not for two or three or four hundred vehicles a day,” said Ksyniuk.

According to Ksyniuk, major gravel pit contractors such as Paulson, B and B, and Wilkinson Contracting, have doubled their costs to haul loads into Prince Albert. He said with the highways open, the workers could make a round trip in an hour but with the detour it takes them more than two.

Ksyniuk, with help from the community has written a letter to Premier Brad Wall, with the Saskatchewan Government, requesting they fix the highway.

Belanger is bringing up the highway project to the legislature. He said there is less than a quarter of a kilometer of road, yet they haven’t finished the work. 

“Get your act together, get this culvert in and get this road back in safe use, please, “said Belanger.

Belanger said this project is one of the many projects the government has messed up on. However, he said this highway is very important to the around four hundred residents and business people who use it every day. 

Belanger wonders how the government could spend so much time and money on the repairs and not finish the job. He said to date the total cost is 1.32 million. He said the final cost will probably be closer to two million with all of the hidden costs; the cost of gas, road maintenance, and the extra cost for gravel pit contractors.

Belanger didn’t specify a date for completion of the road. But he said the project is finally being done right. 

“They tried to drill from North side and South side of the road both attempts failed,” said Belanger. “They’re going to extract the material from the road. ” 

kbruch@panow.com

On Twitter: @KaylaBruch1