REGINA (Staff) – Saskatchewan is apparently using new markers to alert drivers to potholes in highways, jokes one southwestern resident – mufflers and tailpipes.
Another said motorists on one highway have to drive on the wrong side of the road to avoid rocks as large as 15 centimetres across, which have been used to fill potholes.
And Highway 13 in the southwest is in such bad shape that drivers are using a grid road instead, said Tory MLA Jack Goohsen.
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Goohsen said last week the department of highways told the RM it couldn’t inspect the bridges until this week. But he said farmers shouldn’t be forced to make longer hauls during their busy harvest season.
“I know one farmer, instead of a three-kilometre haul from the field to his farm, now has to drive 16 kilometres,” Goohsen said.
He said the province could have avoided this by fixing Highway 13 earlier.
“We’ve got a real wreck down there.”
Goohsen noted the problem isn’t confined to the southwest and called on the government to deal with it.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Automobile Association in Saskatchewan is asking residents to sign petitions or send in completed coupons from newspaper advertising to put pressure on the province.
“Only 39 percent of road-related tax revenue is being spent on our highways,” said president Jerry Butler.
“When we meet with government, we want to convince them that the majority of taxpayers want the roads we are paying for.”
