The twinning of one of Saskatchewan鈥檚 most important highways is getting a boost with a major funding commitment from the federal government.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Brad Wall recently announced that the federal government will fund half the eligible costs to twin 25 km of Highway 7 from Saskatoon to Delisle, to a maximum of $32 million.
鈥淗ighway 7 is an important route for Saskatchewan that connects our largest city to growing communities like Delisle, Rosetown and Kindersley, as well as to export markets,鈥� Wall said. 鈥淭winning will address the safety and congestion concerns that are a result of Saskatchewan鈥檚 remarkable economic and population growth.鈥�
Twinning Highway 7 is expected to begin this spring with grading work between Saskatoon to just east of Vanscoy.聽 Additional work will be scheduled as planning work is completed. Work on the entire 25 km could be completed as soon as fall of 2018.
Planning work for route options in the immediate vicinity of Vanscoy continues, including consultation with the community.
鈥淭raffic on this part of Highway 7 has increased by 50 per cent in the last decade,鈥� Highways and Infrastructure Minister Nancy Heppner said.聽 鈥淭his project is an example of our government鈥檚 commitment to ensuring growth improves everyone鈥檚 quality of life.鈥�
Other major highway projects that improve safety include:
鈥ecently completed twinning of Highway 11 from Saskatoon to Prince Albert and passing lanes on Highway 10 between Balgonie and Fort Qu鈥橝ppelle;
鈥ngoing work on twinning Highway 16 from Saskatoon to Clavet and passing lanes on Highway 7 between Delisle and Rosetown; and
鈥lanning for the future twinning of Highway 6 and 39 from Regina to the US border.
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