Saskatchewan will spend more on highways this year than it ever has in the past, but that isn’t enough to satisfy critics.
The province has set aside just more than $250 million for the transportation budget, up from nearly $235 million last year.
Both the political opposition and road builders say it’s a far cry from what is needed. They don’t like the fact that money allocated for new construction is actually $3.3 million less than last year.
“We see a very, very poor highway network in Saskatchewan right now and no commitment to improve it,” said Saskatchewan Party MLA Bill Boyd.
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Neal Hardy, vice-president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, said municipalities were hoping for more.
“The highways are in terrible shape,” he said, and if they deteriorate, then there is more traffic on municipal roads.
The department increased the budget for road preservation and maintenance by $12 million to $99 million, which highways minister Maynard Sonntag said is a reflection of increased construction in past years.
“As you continue to construct more roads, you obviously require more maintenance, so sometime it has to be reflected in the budget.”
Sonntag said 27.5 kilometres of the Trans-Canada Highway were twinned last year. Another 39.5 km will be built this year, about 20 km in the Wolseley area and the remainder east of the Alberta border.
On the Yellowhead Highway, 16 kilometres in the Maidstone and Lashburn areas will be twinned.
Spending millions
The province is spending $13.3 million on the two national highways this year. Sonntag said there will be a total of about 200 km left to twin on both after this year.
“Based on the rate we’re going, unless we get additional funding from somewhere, it will be 2012 that we’re done both roads.”
The highways budget could get a boost from the new Centenary Fund announced in the provincial budget. It contains $5 million for transportation projects.
“If you combine the amount of money from municipal government and the different funds that you can access … and the potential for a little bit of federal money, we could easily exceed $280 to $285 million this year,” Sonntag said.
The transportation budget also contains money for spot safety improvements. Sonntag said 50 percent of the work goes to private contractors who improve small stretches of road right down to the base.
“Lots of these things that have been characterized as patch work are not little projects,” he said.
