Safety concerns renew call for turning lane

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This article was published 28/07/2025 (241 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Another high-traffic weekend at the Waywayseecappo Gas Bar has reignited long-standing safety concerns and prompted renewed calls for the province to extend the turning lane on Highway 10 near the Brandon Municipal Airport.

The demand comes after a large number of vehicles lined both sides of the highway during the annual Waywayseecappo Gas Bar Rodeo and Western Canadian Classic Car Show over the weekend.

The gas bar, located just south of the airport and one of the region’s most visited fuel stops, urgently needs safer highway access, Waywayseecappo First Nation Chief Murray Clearsky told the Sun.

“There’s already a turning lane at the airport,” he said. “All they have to do is continue it right past our gas bar. That’s what I’m calling for.”

Clearsky, who has been in talks with the province since 2018 about improving access to the growing commercial site, said the issue has become critical, especially after last weekend’s rodeo and car show, which drew heavy traffic to the area and underscored the lack of safe highway access.

The chief stressed that direct access to the gas bar is also critical to the business’s long-term success.

“No one is going to drive toward the airport just to come back to buy gas,” he said. “If I want to stay in business, it needs to be convenient. It’s just common sense.”

Despite conversations with both the previous Progressive Conservative government and the current NDP administration, Clearsky said there has been little progress.

“I gave them the go-ahead to install an intersection just past our driveway with a set of lights,” he said, referencing a meeting with the province earlier. “The plan is to eventually four-lane that stretch of road, and I wanted a proper exit right off Highway 10.”

He also voiced deep frustration with what he described as “unequal treatment.”

“I am beginning to think the government doesn’t want us to succeed … they want to keep us down,” he said. “It is a struggle to try and start your own business as a First Nation organization in this part of the country. They will tell you everything you want to know, but at the end of the day, it’s a bunch of …”

Patrons agree with the chief, saying there is an urgent need to revisit long-discussed improvements to the highway.

The airport has a turning lane but has less traffic than the gas bar, especially during events like this past weekend, Dakota Plains First Nation member Craig Blacksmith said.

“It’s not a matter of if, but when a serious accident will happen if the province continues to ignore this,” he said.

Blacksmith, who attended part of the weekend event, said vehicles were backed up in both directions, making turning into the gas bar difficult and dangerous. In a letter to the Sun, he described the current highway layout as a “100 per cent a safety concern.”

“Leaving Highway 10 in its present condition will lead to major traffic accidents with fatalities. Just like the Carberry junction, it would seem that only fatalities will bring the necessary attention,” he wrote.

The City of Brandon shares those safety concerns.

Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett told the Sun that while the highway falls outside municipal jurisdiction, the city has had ongoing discussions with community leadership and provincial officials about improving the road.

“There’s no question that there’s been concern about that area since the beginning,” he said. “We want to support a solution even though it’s not technically within our city boundaries, because it affects many of our residents who travel that route regularly.”

Fawcett added that Waywayseecappo had traffic control in place during the weekend event, but warned that this kind of temporary measure is not sustainable in the long term.

A provincial spokesperson told the Sun that the government is aware of the problem and working on a solution.

“We understand the concerns raised by the Waywayseecappo Gas Bar regarding traffic in the area, and we take those concerns seriously,” the spokesperson said in an email.

“We have been engaged with the business to review potential options and better understand the safety challenges. We have also reduced the speed limit in the area while undergoing this work.”

The highway department is reviewing the situation carefully to determine the safest and most appropriate path forward, she said, adding that the government remains committed to working “collaboratively with the business to explore solutions that prioritize the safety of all community members.”

Concerns over highway access to the gas bar date back several years.

When Waywayseecappo was looking to establish the gas bar in 2018 on land that has since become an urban reserve, Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure provided a sketch plan that showed access to the gas bar property via a service route connected to the road that leads to the airport. Access via Highway 10 was to be closed once the gas bar was built.

Originally, the road ran between Sandison Road, which leads to the airport, and the property, but it was washed out in heavy rains at the end of June and beginning of July 2020. Since then, the property has only been accessible to vehicles via Highway 10.

In 2022, the province and Waywayseecappo officials publicly disagreed over who was responsible for the lack of safe turning infrastructure. The First Nation argued that they had requested improvements to the access road multiple times, while the province cited jurisdictional limitations related to the Indian Act.

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