Work is underway to upgrade 445 km of Thin Membrane Surface (TMS) and rural highways in Saskatchewan.
“This investment will go a long way toward our government’s goal of improving 1,000 km of highways this year, and 10,000 km in 10 years as laid out by our growth plan,” Highways and Infrastructure Minister Greg Ottenbreit said. “Strong investments like this will assure our transportation infrastructure can support our industry and exporters for generations to come.”
Construction is underway to upgrade 100 km of TMS and rural highways with innovative surface treatments on low volume highways, including:
- Highway 219 south of Highway 15;
- Highway 255 south of Tobin Lake; and
- Highway 355 west of Spruce Home.
Crushing is also underway for future upgrades on Highway 4 from the U.S. border to Grasslands National Park and Highway 36, north of Coronach to the U.S. border. In addition, work has begun on design and crushing for an additional 325 km of TMS through stimulus funding.
The ministry is also formulating partnerships with RMs to improve infrastructure such as the RM of Frenchman Butte, where work is underway on a $5.2 million improvement project. The subgrade and surfacing of the access, from the junction of Highway 3, is scheduled to be completed this fall.
The Government of Saskatchewan operates and maintains approximately 26,000 km of provincial highway, of which 4,650 km are TMS roads. TMS highways were created in the 1950s to provide residents with a dust-free, mud-free driving surface. The light traffic on this system at that time made these relatively inexpensive roads very functional with regular annual maintenance.
A weekly highway construction update is also published here to provide the travelling public with the latest details on projects underway to help plan safe and efficient travel. You can also report a highway work zone signing problem by calling 306-244-5535.
The Government of Saskatchewan has invested more than $9.8 billion in highways infrastructure since 2008, improving more than 15,800 km of Saskatchewan highways. Another $300 million in highways stimulus funds will be invested over the next two years to stimulate Saskatchewan’s economic recovery.