Passing lanes installed on Highway 2 to improve safety
The Ministry of Highways has opened two new sets of passing lanes on Highway 2 between Prince Albert and Christopher Lake which it says will improve safety.
"Passing lanes offer opportunities for motorists to pass, leading to improved traffic flow and also ensuring everyone gets to their destination safely," said Minister of Highways Fred Bradshaw.
Construction of the eight-kilometre stretch cost $7.5 million and was completed ahead of schedule.
“On this highway you’ll see everything from pulp haulers, to campers to boats being towed, semis going north up to the mines,” said Don Fryk, a local area resident.
“If people use these properly, that’s going to save a lot of tragedy, headaches, time.”
According to collision statistics recorded by SGI, the five year average of collisions on Highway 2 between Prince Albert and Christopher Lake is 55 per year.
The province's first major passing lanes pilot project, Highway 10, shows 75 per cent fewer fatal crashes five years after its completion. Other studies cited by the government report a 25 per cent reduction in collisions on highways with passing lanes.
Still, John Halkett, band councillor of the nearby Little Red First Nation, says he would have liked the stretch made into a twinned double lane highway as on weekends the traffic can be backed up a couple of kilometers.
“You got a passing lane on this side but if you’re heading south you can’t pass on that side. It’s a solid line. So I’m hoping it’s incomplete and will be completed sometime,” said Halkett.
He says members from his community benefited from the project by selling 30,000 yards of gravel used in its construction.
"Highway 2 is such an important corridor for the area and these new passing lanes will benefit so many people through safety and expanded capacity for an ever-growing area,” said MLA for Saskatchewan Rivers Nadine Wilson.
Over the next two years, the Government of Saskatchewan is constructing 30 new sets of passing lanes, building on the 27 sets constructed in the last four years.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
7 surveillance videos linked to extortions of South Asian home builders in Edmonton released
The Edmonton Police Service has released a number of surveillance videos related to a series of extortion cases in the city now dubbed 'Project Gaslight.'
Ukraine uses long-range missiles secretly provided by U.S. to hit Russian-held areas, officials say
Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles provided secretly by the United States, bombing a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian forces in another occupied area overnight, American officials said Wednesday.
Pilot reported fire onboard plane carrying fuel, attempted to return to Fairbanks just before crash
One of the two pilots aboard an airplane carrying fuel reported there was a fire on the airplane shortly before it crashed and burned outside Fairbanks, killing both people on board, a federal aviation official said Wednesday.
BREAKING Manitoba government tables bill to end ban on homegrown recreational cannabis
Manitoba is planning to lift its ban on the home growing of recreational cannabis.
All Alberta wildfires to date in 2024 believed to be human-caused: province
There are 63 wildfires burning in Alberta's forest protection area as of Wednesday morning and seven mutual aid fires, including one in the Municipal District of Peace.