It didn’t take long for Lori Carr to have a meeting with the Time to Twin committee.
Carr, the Estevan MLA who was appointed as the new minister of Highways and Infrastructure two weeks ago, met with the committee last Friday to discuss the future of Highways 39 and 6.
The Time to Twin committee has been lobbying for nearly a decade to have Highways 39 and 6 twinned from North Portal to Regina.
And while committee co-chair Marge Young was encouraged with the meeting, Carr said the government is still looking at a combination of twinning and passing lanes for the highways from Estevan to Regina.
“I thought Lori was really receptive to the things that we had to say. She’s a good listener,” Young told the Mercury. “She gave us 40 minutes.”
The meeting was an effort to bring Carr up to speed on the committee’s efforts since their formation in September 2009. Young said that each time they have to deal with a new highways minister, they feel like they’re starting over.
Carr is the sixth minister the committee has dealt with.
“The new ones don’t seem to know what the previous ones have done with us,” said Young.
Carr has been part of meetings with the committee in the past, and she had some familiarity with their previous work. But the committee still presented her with lots of background information, including results from an Estevan Mercury online poll a few years ago showing tremendous support for twinning, and a petition the committee created back in 2013. They also reiterated stories of their experiences on the highways in the past.
The MLA said the meeting went well, with the committee discussing their goals and Carr offering the government’s stance.
“It was a lot of the same stuff, but nonetheless all very important stuff,” said Carr.
The government is still going to proceed with passing lanes instead of twinning for Highways 39 and 6 between Estevan and Regina, although there are a few short stretches that will be twinned.
“We can finish it in a much quicker time frame, which makes that road a much, much safer road for all of the residents that travel it,” said Carr.
Construction has started on the first set of passing lanes south of Regina; Carr is optimistic it will be completed this year. Some details still have to be worked out, such as whether the passing lane construction will start in Regina and work their way towards Estevan, or if they will start in Regina and Estevan, and work their way to the middle.
Among the five previous highways ministers the committee has dealt with, Carr is the second who lived in the area covered by Highways 39 and 6. Don McMorris was the other, as he represents the Milestone-Indian Head riding.
Young believes it will be beneficial to have a highways minister from this part of the province, because that minister will understand the issues associated with travel on this highway.
When the committee asked Carr whether she uses Highways 39 and 6 to get to Regina, Carr said she did.
The committee suggested that if passing lanes are the step to be taken, then they would like to have the passing lanes built side-by-side, so that they’re built with four lanes.
“Then it could be converted to being twinned at some point without having to tear out (the passing lanes),” said Young. “If you stagger the passing lanes, then that doesn’t really help you so much for twinning in the future.”
Committee members are concerned about having offsetting passing lanes, in which there would be a passing lane for traffic in one direction, and then a passing lane for traffic in the other.
Carr said they would be offsetting.
Young and the other members of the committee remain opposed to passing lanes. She pointed out that the government voiced support for twinning from Estevan to Regina back in 2013, and there were meetings regarding double lanes on Highways 39 and 6, but the government decided to direct funds to the Regina bypass, and Young believes that reduced the amount of money available for twinning.
Thanks to the number of trucks travelling on Highways 39 and 6 from North Portal to Regina, she believes twinning is the best option.
Young also noted that previous highways ministers have done a lot for highways within their ridings, with Wayne Elhard, the first minister they dealt with back in 2009, getting a lot for the highways in the Cypress Hills region, and Jim Reiter getting a lot for Rosetown highways.
“We reminded her that we did not ask for this whole highway to be twinned in four years or so. We went back to the same thing. Do the 20 to 40 kilometres per year that the province could afford.”
It took 10 years to twin Highway 11 from Saskatoon to Regina, Young said.
Carr noted that this was the first meeting of its kind that she has held since she became the highways minister. And it was fitting that it was with a local committee.
Young hopes that the two sides can meet again. She would also like to have Souris-Moose Mountain MP Robert Kitchen and Estevan city councillor Dennis Moore, who is the chairperson of the South East Transportation Planning Committee, involved in the meeting so that all the parties involved can be part of it.
