YELLOWHEAD TWINNING BETWEEN SASKATOON AND NORTH BATTLEFORD COMPLETE

Released on December 8, 1997

Highways and Transportation Minister Judy Bradley and Federal

Transport Minister David Collenette today participated in the official

opening of the completion of four-laning Highway No. 16 between

Saskatoon and North Battleford.



"Completing the Yellowhead Highway twinning between Saskatoon and the

Battlefords is a major achievement for the province and will help

improve the province's competitive strength while providing a safer

and more efficient transportation system," Bradley said.



"The Yellowhead Highway is a vital commercial and tourist route in

Saskatchewan and a significant link in the National Highway System,"

Collenette said. "The federal government is pleased to be involved in

upgrading this important segment of Highway No. 16 to provide a level

of safety, capacity and efficiency to meet all foreseeable demands."



Opening of the new lanes of Highway No. 16 completed the province's

five-year, $70 million partnership with the federal government under

the Strategic Highway Improvement Program (SHIP). Under that

agreement, the federal and provincial governments each contributed

$35 million to upgrade and repave parts of Highways Nos. 1, 7, 11, 16

and 39. The largest project in the agreement was twinning the

Yellowhead Highway.



The Highway No. 16 twinning project included constructing 92

kilometres of new highway, a new bridge over the north Saskatchewan

River near Borden and a new railway underpass. Construction of these

improvements cost $42.4 million, of which $36.5 million was cost-shared equally by the provincial and federal governments under

SHIP. The provincial and federal governments also cost-shared in

$3.02 million to resurface the existing lanes of Highway No. 16.



"Saskatchewan is committed to twinning our major national highway

links," Bradley said. "Earlier this year the province announced

it will complete twinning the TransCanada from border-to-border

and the Yellowhead Highway from Saskatoon to the Alberta border

within 15 years. Opening this additional stretch of twinning

today between Saskatoon and North Battleford is a positive start

to our commitment."



"These projects are a good example of federal-provincial

co-operation through investment in strategic projects that will

enhance regional and national competitiveness by improving

transportation infrastructure while creating jobs," Collenette

said.



The 1993 SHIP agreement provided funds for twinning on two other

Saskatchewan highways in addition to Highway No. 16; Highway

No. 7 from Saskatoon to west of the Highway No. 60 junction; and

Highway No. 11 from Saskatoon to Warman.



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For more information, contact:



Mike Woods Sheila Ryan-Monette

Highways & Transportation Transport Canada

Regina Winnipeg

Phone: (306) 787-4804 Phone: (204) 983-6315