Released on October 17, 1997
Highways and Transportation Minister Judy Bradley today introduced
toll free service enabling all Saskatchewan residents to have access
to the Highway Hotline.
"Until now the hotline had 15 different locations across the province
each with a different telephone number but people living outside those
locations were required to pay long distance charges to receive
information," Bradley announced at a Weyburn news conference. "We now
have just three phone numbers for the Highway Hotline. We are
retaining the existing hotline numbers for Regina and Saskatoon and
introducing the new 1-888-335-7623 (ROAD) number for the rest of
Saskatchewan."
The Highway Hotline provides recorded information on a 24-hour basis.
Information on the hotline is updated at 8 a.m., 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
daily during the winter or whenever conditions change during severe
weather. Saskatchewan Highways and Transportation staff from 82 areas
across the province provide information to 15 offices who in turn make
the updates to a central computer system. During the summer updates
are done daily at 10:00 a.m. The information is also available on the
Internet.
When calling the Highway Hotline people should know the highway
number they want details about. Callers can select information
on winter and summer road conditions, ferries, ice road
crossings, out-of-province road information numbers in winter and
spring road restrictions. The hotline receives more than 350,000
inquiries every year.
"Calling the hotline before traveling promotes safer highways,"
Bradley said. "By eliminating long distance charges and making
it easier to access, we encourage greater use of this valuable
service. We're proud to have the most sophisticated and timely
road information system on the prairies."
The new toll free service also eliminates all costs to the deaf
and hard of hearing. Previously, the deaf and hard of hearing
had toll free calling to the SaskTel Relay Services operator, but
had to pay the long distance charges to access Hotline
information.
Highway Hotline Phone Numbers:
Regina City and surrounding area:(306) 787-7623 (ROAD).
Saskatoon City and surrounding area: (306) 933-8333.
The new toll free number for all other areas of the province:
1-888-335-7623 (ROAD).
Internet: http://www.gov.sk.ca/govt/highways/
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For more information, contact:
Gary McClelland
Road Information Manager
Highways and Transportation
Saskatoon
Phone: (306) 933-5228