The great twinning project is dead, for now.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In the July 26 Estevan Mercury, it was revealed that after four years of consideration, the province is now going to put in passing lanes on Highways No.39 and No.6 from Estevan to Regina. It looks like twinning is off the table, for now.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I lived in North Battleford during the time they twinned Highway No.16 from the Battlefords to Lloydminster, and just after the Saskatoon to Battlefords portion was completed.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Prior to the Saskatoon portion being done, the Battlefords News-Optimist was full of fatal collisions on that stretch. Julian Sadlowski, who was mayor during my tenure with the News-Optimist, told me about the continual string of fatalities on that road. He had fought long and hard to get that highway twinned, for that very reason.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 We continually reported on fatal collisions on the Lloyd stretch as it was ever so slowly being twinned.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But when the twinning was complete in each section, something remarkable happened. Those very regular stories of fatal collisions all but ceased to exist.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I was there when then-Premier Lorne Calvert buried a Loonie in the last piece of pavement, completing the project. It was a good day.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Two years ago I had an energetic discussion with a prominent Weyburn citizen who thought that a twinned highway bypassing that community would be horrible for its economy. She had a point.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Having visited Maidstone recently, roughly 10 years after it was bypassed, I would say twinning did hurt the community, but only to a certain extent.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 It hurt the highway commercial businesses, i.e. the potty-break places. The businesses in the region that got hurt the most just might have been the mortuaries.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But Estevan has had a two-lane truck bypass now for a few years, and I don鈥檛 think that has dramatically hurt many businesses here. Yes, many restaurants have closed, but that was because of the now three-year-long downturn in oil activity.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 And which is more important, selling bags of chips or caskets?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Fundamentally, the decision not to twin those highways in the southeast is related to oil. The drop of a billion dollars in revenue each year because of the oil crash has meant the province must tighten its belt in all areas.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 If that means the province can add passing lanes as opposed to full-blown twinning for one-tenth to one-twentieth the cost (a guess, but I dare say a pretty good one), then the government will obviously punt on twinning.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Manitoba has obviously taken this strategy on its very busy Highway No.10 between Brandon and Riding Mountain National Park, the province鈥檚 only national park.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 That highway, the primary route from both Brandon and Winnipeg to the part, is crazy in the summertime. In the past few years they鈥檝e been adding passing lanes as well as repaving, something that was sorely needed. About a third of the distance has been covered, and it has absolutely made a difference.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But most of that traffic is of pickups pulling boats and trailers, with the occasional grain semi.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Saskatchewan Highway No.39, between Estevan and Weyburn, sees an awful lot more wide loads, tandem steer trucks, service rigs, drilling rig moves, crew trucks and more.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Plus, the highway is the principle route from the American Midwest manufacturing base to all of Western Canada. Every day I see trucks hauling massive mining truck tires, presumably to places like Fort McMurray.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 We also see the very large components for those trucks going along this highway as well. There are daily convoys of RV shipments, school busses and boats. If it鈥檚 going to Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton or Fort McMurray, there鈥檚 a very good chance it鈥檚 going past Estevan and Weyburn.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Twinning isn鈥檛 perfect. Two hours after I typed the draft of this column, I got an email from the RCMP. It said, 鈥淥n Tuesday July 25 at approximately 10 p.m. Warman/Martensville RCMP were dispatched to the scene of a serious, two-vehicle collision which occurred at the intersection of Highway No.16 and Township Road 384 near the community of Langham.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淎 semi-trailer unit was traveling northwest on Highway No.16 when a Ford Ranger pickup truck attempted to cross westbound on Township Road 384. The pickup was struck by the semi.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淭he 36-year-old male driver and lone occupant of the pickup truck, who is from the Saskatoon area, was declared deceased at the scene. The driver and lone occupant of the semi was uninjured.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Maybe two decades from now there will be four lanes between Estevan and Regina. With this current decision, it鈥檚 highly doubtful it will come any sooner than that.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I wonder how many caskets will be filled in the meantime.
