A running joke amongst people in Saskatchewan includes how we tackle driving on roads. Not just any roads, however, one chockablock full of potholes.
An image on the internet I once saw poked fun at this very thing as the creator of it had drawn a road with potholes, then had copied it, and pasted the image right next to the original. From there the titles of each of the roads read something along the lines of "sober driving in Saskatchewan" and "drunk driving in Saskatchewan."
The first showed the line of the vehicle to be swerving all over the road, doing everything possible to avoid the potholes while the "drunk" version was actually a straight line hitting every single pothole on its way.
I laughed at this image a bit and forgot about it until the other day as I travelled to Kipling. I turned off Hwy 9 and headed up Hwy 48. I hadn't been up that way in a little while, but as I drove along I was reminded of this image.
I was literally all over the road as I attempted to dodge the potholes. That road, however, meant that as I dodged one, three more would appear to maneuver around. In addition to the potholes were the never ending stretches of washboard.
It's my understanding that 48 has been like this for quite awhile, now the pavement might have been ripped up but it seems to be worse than ever. Or at least as bad as it has been since I've been in the area, but I guess at least the road is wide.
Recently CAA released their 2014 "Worst Roads in Saskatchewan," and I know there must be some terrible ones out there, but I personally think Hwy 48 is likely the worst road I've travelled on.
And I personally know bad roads as Hwy 13 between Admiral and Shaunavon on the west side of the province slowly became worse and worse as I grew up in the area to the point where taking the grid roads, even on muddy days, was the better option. In fact I don't think it's been paved since they ripped it up probably close to 10 years ago. Granted it likely doesn't see the traffic that Hwy 13 near Carlyle or what Hwy 48 will see, but it's been sitting like that for years.
The next time I had to go to Kipling I ended up taking the Bekevar Road to avoid the highway, but found out that most vehicles must be doing this because it too was quite poor to drive on.
Ultimately these kinds of roads are terrible for a vehicle and as I drove back to Carlyle the one day I followed along Hwy 48, unsure which road was really the better choice to take by now, I felt terrible for a semi hauling vehicles. I mean I was at least able to dodge most of the potholes, but I watched as he could only miss the large ones and slow down to gently hit the other ones.
I feel as though this driver might not have known about the road or if he did was simply resolved to slowly make his way to Hwy 9, averaging a speed of about 50 km/hr, while on it.
Over the last couple years I've also heard people complaining of the road, but of the impact of it as well. People from Regina used to traverse Hwy 48 to get to Kenosee Lake because they wouldn't be back tracking at all, but hauling trailers or boats was to hard on their vehicles and difficult to pull when the trailer is bouncing around behind you. So, some that I've talked to have even seen a decrease in business during the summer months to what they used to do because of this.
Hopefully, the weather clears up and the roads dry soon so the crews can get to work and finish Hwy 48, but also get the graders out to fix up the grid roads in the area that are taking more beatings by heavy vehicles as a way to avoid Hwy 48.
