Highway 6 / 39 Twinning
 

Hello All,

Now that the province has announced the planning stages for the Twinning of highways 6 and 39 south of Regina to Estevan. Here is a place to put pertinent information about the project. Also any discussions for and against the planned routing.

General Information about the Project:
http://www.highways.gov.sk.ca/twinning6and39

Open House Part 1:
http://www.highways.gov.sk.ca/adx/as...me_hwy6.39.pdf

Open House Part 2:
http://www.highways.gov.sk.ca/adx/as...openhouse2.pdf

Open House Part 3:
http://www.highways.gov.sk.ca/adx/as...art1_Part2.pdf

Open House Part 4:
http://www.highways.gov.sk.ca/adx/as...ouse_Part2.pdf

Yellowgrass will be choked as they will be losing their cash cow of pinching unsuspecting travellers for speeding through their ridiculously slow speed zone.

Haha yea slowing to 50km/h on a road that handles that much traffic is insane! However, I feel this project, while desperately needed. Will kill some small towns along the route. Yellow Grass likely one of the first.

Hopefully in the "not too distant" future, that transportation corridor will be connected & upgraded along US-52 from Minot to Jamestown (connecting to I-94) thus providing direct freeway/ expressway connections from Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon & Regina to Minneapolis, Chicago & all points east. This route has the potential to be one of the most important transportation corridors in North America.

True, but getting rid of the choke point on 11 between Saskatoon and Regina seems impossible to do....

It does, however, I hope that happens as well.

Information about planning of the road twinning:

http://www.estevanmercury.ca/news/re...ion-1.1736659#

The US plan was to build an expressway from Rapid City to Regina via Williston/Plentywood, in fact. They call it the Theodore Roosevelt Expressway. URL: http://www.trexpressway.com/

MHI does have a plan to bypass Chamberlain. The issue is that you have the railway to cross (twice) on the west side and the Little Arm River Valley on the east.

I recall seeing something on the plan years ago but have not heard anything since.

It would be great yes, however, if it did bypass it would be preferred to have bridges, obviously. However, I would be OK with level crossings considering how lightly traveled that rail line is; of course though it could ramp up as a major N/S corridor for CN Rail again if the need arose. Then it would be an insanely BAD idea. 6 of one, half-dozen of the other kind of thing.

I mean having two rail crossings and a major highway intersection within 3kms would be a nightmare. If they were all at grade.

I think the best and cheapest plan would be to just re-route the rail line further west. MHI would have to buy the old grain elevator but that is not worth much. This would be far cheaper than 2 grade separations.

That would be the best option. Then just deal with the intersection with Highway 2... Likely at Grade in that location.

INFORMATION:

North Portal to Beinfait twinning open house:

Estevan to Bienfait – Pre-construction Update (Bienfait to North Portal - Long-Term Planning Route)
You are invited to attend a public open house for two very important highway projects for Highway 39 southeast of Estevan.

The open house will focus on:

1) The route selection and details about the upcoming twinning construction work between Estevan and Bienfait; and

2) The long-term route planning for the possible future twinning or passing lane construction from Bienfait to North Portal.

Through an informal come and go format, this will be an opportunity for the public to discuss these two projects and provide input, ideas and suggestions.

DATE: Tuesday, February 10, 2015
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Bienfait Weldon School - Gymnasium
802 Weldon Road, Bienfait, SK
Representatives will be on hand from the consultant MMM Group and the Ministry of
Highways and Infrastructure.
For more information please contact:
Bruce Belmore, MMM Group Limited
Phone: 306-522-7158 ext. 226
E-mail at belmoreb@MMM.ca
(See: Advertisement below)

Come and go open house this week for the most recent progress on this project.

http://static1.squarespace.com/stati...Open+House.pdf

They should have an open house in South Regina. As I am sure a lot people in Regina would like some input on this road considering how important it is.

The info presented at the latest open house is now online.

http://www.highways.gov.sk.ca/adx/as...ory+Boards.pdf

The public "input sessions" are a joke.
 

They have to hold public input sessions to meet the requirements of the fairness process but it's pretty clear that the Asian Pacific Gateway & Corridor authorities have been working on these plans for years. Brad Wall doesn't have much say in the route and access points to this highway, let alone the people of South Regina. I'm not saying this is a bad thing; just pointing it out so that when the politicians start high-fiving each other for doing the right thing and making that highway safe, it will be that much more entertaining.

As for Chamberlain, why not move the town? I've heard of this being done by at least one mining company in the U.S. If a privately owned mining company can justify the cost of buying out every property in a town, I'm sure the Gateway Corridor authorities can as well. Having said that, the cost of two overpasses to cross the railway would be a fraction of the cost of some of the projects to eliminate bottlenecks in the BC mountains.

It took me a while to find this thread.

https://canada.constructconnect.com/...-lane-contract

So will we be seeing the 2+1 configuration on the 39 between Estevan and Wayburn?

Doesn't sound like it will be the entire distance. It sounds like it will be occasional passing lanes, as found on highway 6 between Regina and the intersection of highway 39.

I was on a highway near Amarillo, Texas in May (US 87) that had a long stretch of passing lanes - one side or the other always had one. I suspect that's what you mean by 2+1, and that sure doesn't sound like what is planned here.

I don’t think we’d ever refer to a highway as “the 39” on the Prairies. We used to say “the Number 1 highway” etc., for the major low-numbered highways in Manitoba but generally it was just “Highway 39” or “PTH 39” sometimes, in more official communications, such as government reports and press releases. I don’t know what the practice is in Sask, though.