The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) has called for increased funding for rural roads and bridges. These pieces of infrastructure are not only the lifeline for thousands of municipal residents who travel them daily, they also help drive our rural economy by supporting oil and gas, agriculture, mining and other natural resource sectors. Without further aid, the roads and bridges in rural Saskatchewan will continue to deteriorate with significant economic and social consequences.
Rural municipalities (RMs) in the province are responsible for 164,000 kilometres of roads, Canada’s largest road network. Roads in the province connect our rural population to urban centres, transport essential supplies, export goods and more. These busy roads require regular upkeep, maintenance and ongoing building and re-building. In addition, RMs are responsible for 1,280 bridge structures. Unfortunately, years of use have led to 60 per cent of rural bridges at or beyond their expected service lifespan and needing replacement to avoid safety hazards or disrupting the transportation of goods.
“The Rural Integrated Roads for Growth (RIRG) program provides funding for RMs to support rural road construction, bridge construction, culvert installation and maintaining eligible roads at primary weights. The RIRG program is funded by the Ministry of Highways, administered by SARM, and right now every RM has a laundry list of roads and bridges that are in serious need of repair or rebuild,” said Bill Huber, acting president of SARM.
The cost of building a bridge per square foot increased by 36 per cent between 2010 and 2020 and another 25 per cent between 2020 and 2022. Road construction costs have also increased, resulting in a sharp rise in project withdrawals, deeply impacting RMs. Funding for the RIRG program has steadily decreased over the years from $25M in 2009-2014 to $15M from 2015-2023. While SARM was pleased to see a modest increase in funding in the 2024/2025 program year (to $17.4M), funding for this essential program continues to lag behind the great infrastructure needs among the RMs.
“Government’s infrastructure spending must keep up with inflation. The civil construction industry needs and has been asking for a long-term, serious commitment to build and maintain our provincial road network. The industry continues to see increased expenses in escalating costs for fuel, materials and labour, while the base spending on infrastructure capital remains relatively unchanged. Inflationary costs reflected in bid pricing that isn’t adequately addressed through realistic infrastructure funding leads to less projects tendered, which creates further financial uncertainty for the industry, it becomes a vicious circle,” said Shantel Lipp, president of the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association.