Released on December 19, 2012
While the major highway construction season in Saskatchewan drew to a close in the fall, bridge and culvert work is ramping up throughout the winter.
"Replacing worn out bridges and culverts and maintaining our more than 780 bridges and 62,000 culverts is a vital part of renewing our infrastructure and moving forward on our provincial growth plan," Highways and Infrastructure Minister Don McMorris said. "By contracting this work out over the winter months, we are able to take advantage of frozen water bodies for efficient bridge work with little environmental impact."
Winter bridge work is efficient and cost effective because temporary platforms are easily built under the bridge on frozen bodies of water. No parallel bridges need to be constructed in order to erect a new bridge. Environmental concerns are also greatly reduced because there is no impact to aquatic species and certain birds during the winter months.
Some of the work in progress or scheduled to get underway this winter includes: culvert replacement near 15 Wing Moose Jaw, culvert replacement on Highway 9 north of Canora, culvert improvements to Highway 14 near Perdue, bridge work on Highway 16 near Maidstone, culvert installation underway on Highway 18 near Climax, culvert replacement on Highway 19 near Elbow, bridge replacement on Highway 25 near Birch Hills, culvert installation under Highway 39 near Weyburn, bridge work on Highway 56 in Fort Qu'Appelle, and bridge construction on Highway 165 near Big Sandy Lake.
Motorists must slow to 60 km/hr when passing workers and equipment in the Orange Zone. For more information about construction zones, visit www.highways.gov.sk.ca/orangezone/. Emergency road closures, the status of ferries and barges, winter road conditions and other related activities can be found on the Highway Hotline at www.highways.gov.sk.ca/road-conditions.
The second-largest highways budget in Saskatchewan history has provided nearly 1,200 kilometres of highway improvements completed or underway in the 2012 construction season. A $631.5 million investment in 2012-13 brings the total investment to $3.1 billion since the spring of 2008.
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For more information, contact:
Doug Wakabayashi
Highways and Infrastructure
Regina
Phone: 306-787-4804
Email: doug.wakabayashi@gov.sk.ca