Tragic indeed. How do you know it was head-on though? To me it sounds more like someone failed to move over. We will see as details come out.

Today 101 EB just past 204 completely closed. All traffic diverting on Henderson to CPT to Lag. At least one semi and a vehicle involved. Unsure of injuries.

From the RCMP web site On Perimeter HWY east of Hwy 7 a Pickup truck going east crossed the median and hit constable Poapst's vehicle which was going west.

What was the weather like when the crash happens? Perimeter Highway is effectively a super-4 right now.

The median there is a few feet of grass. Hate to say it, but put in a concrete barrier to redirect errant vehicles and this would not have happened.

Maybe his untimely death will encourage the Manitoba gov't to speed up improving the Perimeter Hwy. to freeway standards so stuff like this is less likely to happen.


I don't know him, but just going by his photo, he seemed like a nice man.

I sure hope so. A death like this definitely hits the surviving family hard though. I can’t help but recall a recent incident on Malahat Drive (B.C. Highway 1 on the Island) where a newly wedded sewage truck driver was killed.

Cable barrier would be much better.

I know that it has proven to work on ON-401 between London and Chatham-Kent, but that’s because there’s at least 15 meters of grassy median. I don’t know the threshold, but anything less than 10 meters might not work.

Highway was reported to be slippery so the Pickup driver may have been going too fast for conditions.

They're used in Alberta as well and in areas with less than a 10 meter median. Apparently they have a very good track record here. In the summer the province started installing 65 km. worth along the 201 in Calgary and it's only going to cost $3.5 million. Seems like an effective and cheap cost for Manitoba if they install the right type of cable barrier and do it correctly.

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...n-stoney-trail

Chalk up another death to a poorly designed roadway without a centre barrier!

St. Cloud to Minneapolis on I-94 has a cable barrier pretty much the whole way to avoid this type of accident!

Saw your post after I posted, cable barrier should be (should have been) in place along the perimeter decades ago!

This is the kind of no-brainer stuff that should have been placed on the Perimeter decades ago. I mean, fair enough if there's no money for interchanges at every junction but something like this seems like it would be a minor expense in the context of the highways department budget.

The tributes to Cst. Poapst were heartbreaking, he left behind three teenage daughters and sounded like just an absolute gem of a guy.

:cheers:

Deleted comment about Steve Ashton

This is why the median is being widened on the south perimeter. To allow space for vehicles to run off in the ditch. Otherwise they're installing a median barrier. Such as between Pembina and St. Mary's where the right of way is narrow.

I guess I overlooked that part of the design. IMO, for 6 lanes or more, the highway should simply have a concrete median plus some left shoulder, instead of a wide median.

I personally like the cable barrier better. It allows for blowing snow to pass across the highway, rather than accumulate on the other side of the barrier.

On a semi-related note. I believe there is an RFP out for the 59N over floodway bridge. Had some inquiries which related to that area of the highway. The Province is rebuilding that one with some innovative solution they touted in a presser recently.