Manitoba Highways

[bomberjet]

At the junction of two national highways, slowing down is precisely the problem.

[Wpgstvsouth94]

Exactly! It’s unheard of that they are putting a round about without some form of grade separation with it. I can’t believe this was even proposed in the first place!

[drew]

I am in the minority here, but I really don't see the big deal about this round about.

Provided it's a large enough diameter and with enough lanes, it solves the major problems at that intersection, namely making it safer and allowing it to be free flowing.

It also has the added benefit of being cost effective now and in the future.

I also don't have any issues with needing to slow down to 80 for a round about.

At the end of the day, it's an improvement. All these posts about one intersection when we still have the disaster that is Headingly on our national highway. Or Deacon's corner, or Virden, or Elie, or that broken overpass near PlaP that has remained untouched for almost a decade now.

[bomberjet]

It's all an embarrassment Drew.

I guess the thing with 1/16 is they have/had a functional plan for an interchange there. That was scrapped. Now they want a round-about because they like the one at Hwy 2/3.

Combine the 1/16 functional plan with the Portage Bypass project and there would actually be a decent stretch of highway out there for not a whole lot of work.

New interchange at the bypass, the diamond 2 miles out for the industrial park, and put a trumpet at 1/16.

[esquire]

^ To that point, the province's inability to improve the junction of two major highways is symbolic of its generally weak and ramshackle approach to highways in general. So it does have an outsized importance in that regard.

We went from decades of planning for a single measly interchange that never materialized to now settling for a roundabout. A roundabout is fine for a secondary route, but questionable for two supposedly high speed cross-country highways. But it appears that's about as good as it's going to get.

[WildCake]

Originally Posted by drew

I am in the minority here, but I really don't see the big deal about this round about.

Provided it's a large enough diameter and with enough lanes, it solves the major problems at that intersection, namely making it safer and allowing it to be free flowing.

It also has the added benefit of being cost effective now and in the future.

I also don't have any issues with needing to slow down to 80 for a round about.

At the end of the day, it's an improvement. All these posts about one intersection when we still have the disaster that is Headingly on our national highway. Or Deacon's corner, or Virden, or Elie, or that broken overpass near PlaP that has remained untouched for almost a decade now.

As much as I have griped about this, I also agree that it's an improvement over the current status.

I don't think this roundabout will lead to a huge heap of collisions. Maybe I'm naive but even truck drivers will have to contend with a roundabout at some point in time in training. It's not 1980 and this isn't the first roundabout in the country. Just the first at a major highway intersection.

I think the sentiment of the complaining is that this is without a doubt a ~$10 million half-ass measure that just kicks the can of doing a proper job down the road. And that the cost of doing a minimal "full assed" job of putting in a diamond would be ~30-40 mil, or the ~100-120 mil to also grade separate the rail crossing.

[esquire]

It is crazy when you look and see how much the TCH next door in Sask has improved over the last 25 years. Twinning, interchanges, new bypasses. Meanwhile, over that timespan I am hard pressed to think of any improvements whatsoever to the TCH in Manitoba... I guess they twinned that short stretch from Virden to the Sask border some 20-odd years ago. That's it. Maybe some stretches of shoulder were paved too. Meanwhile the highway keeps getting busier but it's the same old stop signs and traffic lights everywhere. I find it astounding that not a single new grade separation has been built on the TCH in that timespan.

[Highwayman]

Originally Posted by esquire

It is crazy when you look and see how much the TCH next door in Sask has improved over the last 25 years. Twinning, interchanges, new bypasses. Meanwhile, over that timespan I am hard pressed to think of any improvements whatsoever to the TCH in Manitoba... I guess they twinned that short stretch from Virden to the Sask border some 20-odd years ago. That's it. Maybe some stretches of shoulder were paved too. Meanwhile the highway keeps getting busier but it's the same old stop signs and traffic lights everywhere. I find it astounding that not a single new grade separation has been built on the TCH in that timespan.

Agreed. And this isn't even that hard of an intersection to do. You can fix two issues with one fix. That being the bypass and the 1/16 intersection.

Ideas -
A- reroute 16 toward portage and build it into the bypass. This way since you have to fix the bridge that's falling apart you could make a cloverleaf there and 16 could literally be part of the bypass. I'm sure the $10 million which probably will be $20 million when done would pay for a simple 2 lane highway reroute.

B-. Same idea as above except extend the bypass to 16.

I do understand that both will need a little bridge over the Assiniboine diversion channel. But it's not a huge bridge like you'd have to do on the floodway here.

I just don't get why this is such a complicated issue.

And to have a round about that's big enough you'd have to push highway 1 so far south it would be stupidity. There is no way you will enter this at 80kmh. You can go to our largest interchange and that being 59/101 and even the flyover you slow down to 70. And look at the amount of land that takes up. So imagine a big circle where you can do 80kmh. It's insanely large.

[anthonyk]

[Biff]

Although it is probably smart in the long term to realign Hwy 16, I think you are underestimating the cost of a new bridge over the Portage Diversion, approximately 10-15 km of new Hwy and the cost and hassle of land acquisition.

Building a simple diamond interchange at 16&1 is by far the cheapest and easiest option of all. For some reason this Province is allergic to basic diamond interchanges.

[WildCake]

Originally Posted by Biff

Although it is probably smart in the long term to realign Hwy 16, I think you are underestimating the cost of a new bridge over the Portage Diversion, approximately 10-15 km of new Hwy and the cost and hassle of land acquisition.

Building a simple diamond interchange at 16&1 is by far the cheapest and easiest option of all. For some reason this Province is allergic to basic diamond interchanges.

The interchange between 16, TCH and the bypass would also need to be much more extensive than the simple roundabout diamond they are making it into at this point.

[bomberjet]

I read somewhere that MI was talking with Long Plain First Nation about development along the highway, separately from the current interchange project. Hopefully this means they can coordinate and find room for an (future of course...) interchange at that location.

Edit: it's in the poster baords.

[mcpish]

As I've been driving on the west perimeter i noticed there's some construction crews just west of the Perimeter/Centreport interchange grading the Headingley bypass route. Is construction finally starting?

[craner]

Originally Posted by Highwayman

Agreed. And this isn't even that hard of an intersection to do. You can fix two issues with one fix. That being the bypass and the 1/16 intersection.

Ideas -
A- reroute 16 toward portage and build it into the bypass. This way since you have to fix the bridge that's falling apart you could make a cloverleaf there and 16 could literally be part of the bypass. I'm sure the $10 million which probably will be $20 million when done would pay for a simple 2 lane highway reroute.

B-. Same idea as above except extend the bypass to 16.

I do understand that both will need a little bridge over the Assiniboine diversion channel. But it's not a huge bridge like you'd have to do on the floodway here.

I just don't get why this is such a complicated issue.

And to have a round about that's big enough you'd have to push highway 1 so far south it would be stupidity. There is no way you will enter this at 80kmh. You can go to our largest interchange and that being 59/101 and even the flyover you slow down to 70. And look at the amount of land that takes up. So imagine a big circle where you can do 80kmh. It's insanely large.

Looking at the map this seems totally logical (although I’m not familiar with actual conditions on the ground).
The #1 bypasses PLP to the north and as it starts to bend back south #16 flairs off to the NW to meet the current #16 alignment where it turns directly south.
I love it !

[esquire]

Originally Posted by mcpish

As I've been driving on the west perimeter i noticed there's some construction crews just west of the Perimeter/Centreport interchange grading the Headingley bypass route. Is construction finally starting?

I'm not aware of any announcement to that effect... that would have been pretty big news had it happened.

Originally Posted by craner

Looking at the map this seems totally logical (although I’m not familiar with actual conditions on the ground).
The #1 bypasses PLP to the north and as it starts to bend back south #16 flairs off to the NW to meet the current #16 alignment where it turns directly south.
I love it !

It makes sense, but the combination of building a stretch of new highway and basically having to build a totally new interchange where 16 would connect with the 1 bypass at the west end of Portage means that it seems pretty unlikely to happen in a province that struggles with getting a simple diamond interchange built. But I suppose that anything is possible...

[Wpgstvsouth94]

If you look at the diagrams for the north perimeter safety improvements you can see the west service road gets extended all the way to the center port interchange. Maybe that?!!

[rrskylar]

Travelled MB #10 from Minnedosa to Wasagming recently and for the first time in close to a decade, highway was pure garbage then nothing changed in the decade since, I know this province is pathetic when it comes to highway maintenance but WTF!

And nothing says third world more than the missing section of roadway on the west Portage La Prairie bypass, transportation capital of Canada all right!

[Glenn99]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

Travelled MB #10 from Minnedosa to Wasagming recently and for the first time in close to a decade, highway was pure garbage then nothing changed in the decade since, I know this province is pathetic when it comes to highway maintenance but WTF!

And nothing says third world more than the missing section of roadway on the west Portage La Prairie bypass, transportation capital of Canada all right!

That stretch of highway north of Minnedosa is emabarrasing.

[Lars65]

The section of the Headingley bypass has just been turned into a gravel site for roadworks as far as I can tell. Actually clever idea, allowing large trucks easy access to the perimeter.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

Travelled MB #10 from Minnedosa to Wasagming recently and for the first time in close to a decade, highway was pure garbage then nothing changed in the decade since, I know this province is pathetic when it comes to highway maintenance but WTF!

And nothing says third world more than the missing section of roadway on the west Portage La Prairie bypass, transportation capital of Canada all right!

You should try the stretch between Carberry and Kiche Manitou campground.