May Long Weekend Marks Unofficial Start to Highway Construction Season

Released on May 20, 2022

With spring in full bloom, many Saskatchewan people will be hitting the highway to go to a Provincial Park, visit friends, or spend time at the cottage. The Government of Saskatchewan wants drivers to remember this time of year also marks the beginning of highway construction season. And that means we want you to slow to 60 in the Work Zone.

"The Ministry of Highways has hard-working crews all over the province making improvements to our road network," Highways Minister Fred Bradshaw said. "We want to ensure each of them gets home safely every night. We also want drivers to understand that traffic slowdowns are temporary, and they'll soon have a better road to travel after construction is over."

This year, Highways is investing $453 million in capital projects, highlighted by the twinning of Highway 3 to nearly eight kilometres west of Prince Albert and completing 14 sets of passing lanes on Highways 5, 7, 12, and 16.

Highways will also undertake several paving projects, including:

• Highway 1, West of Moose Jaw (13 km)
• Highway 4, North of North Battleford (12 km)
• Highway 5, West of Humboldt (17 km)
• Highway 6, South of Naicam (8 km)
• Highway 11, North of Kenaston (8 km)
• Highway 21, South of Kindersley (10 km)

This year, the ministry continues its practice of improving roads that lead to provincial parks, including:

• Highway 26 to Meadow Lake Provincial Park
• Highway 38 to Greenwater Provincial Park 
• Highway 204 access to Battlefords Provincial Park

In addition to the access improvements, paving will occur on roadways within Battlefords and Meadow Lake Provincial Parks.

A weekly highway construction update is published on www.saskatchewan.ca/residents/transportation/highway-construction-projects/weekly-highway-construction-update to provide travellers with the latest details on projects underway to help plan safe and efficient travel. 
 

If you're planning to travel, check the Highway Hotline at saskatchewan.ca/highwayhotline, which provides up-to-date information on construction, emergency road closures, the status of ferries, barges and other road activities.  Information is also available by calling 511.

The Government of Saskatchewan is planning to improve more than 1,100 km of provincial highways this year, for a total of 3,500 km over the past three years. The government has set a 10-year Growth Plan target of improving 10,000 kilometres of highways. With this year's improvements, the province is ahead of the pace needed to meet this target.

The Government of Saskatchewan has invested more than $11.5 billion in highways infrastructure since 2008, improving more than 18,400 km of Saskatchewan highways.

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