I seem to be on a bit of a Highways kick this week. Tuesday I wrote about travelling Highway 21 south of Unity all the way to Leader before cutting across to Burstall, Alta. on a trip to Medicine Hat. Highway 21 has some nasty spots, but it didn’t make CAA Saskatchewan’s top 10 worst highways list.
It seems southern Saskatchewan has that distinction wrapped up, with Highway 354 at Dilke earning top honours. Down the list are: Highway 4, Val Marie; Highway 322, Silton; Highway 36, Coronach; Highway 220, Bulyea; Highway 43, Gravelbourg; Highway 47, Springside; Highway 27, Vonda; and Highway 18, Fife Lake.
The lone standout from the southern theme is Highway 155, La Loche coming in tenth on the list. That highway has been on the list three straight years.
The CAA’s campaign proved a popular one with more than 260 roads, highways and residential streets nominated. Nearly 4,556 votes were cast.
So do we really have better roads in the Northwest than exist in more southern areas of the province, or did we just fail to get online and cast our votes? That’s a hard call to make, because I’m sure we all have a particular highway we love to hate. Mayfair correspondent Elaine Woloshyn has alluded in her column to the “challenging” condition of the roads in her area. Folks in Maymont have been lobbying their MLA for years trying to get something done about the abysmal condition of Highway 376.
In response to the annual campaign the Ministry of Highways is always quick to talk about “TMS roads.” Thin-membrane-surface roads have only a narrow layer of asphalt and were not built for heavy traffic. Because of their construction the roads are most susceptible to damage in the spring when the underlying surface is soft.
The government obviously doesn’t have a gazillion dollars to upgrade all those bad roads, but it makes you wonder why Alberta seems to have done it right in the first place. For a smooth ride cross the border, or just stay home until the road bed dries up and save our TMS roads.
