Provincial budget to earmark $4M for overpass

Today’s provincial budget will include about $4 million for design work and land acquisition for an overpass on the Trans-Canada Highway north of Carberry, the Sun has learned.

A provincial government official confirmed Monday that “essentially” $4 million will be in today’s budget, the third since the NDP came to power.

“That makes us happy,” Carberry Mayor Ray Muirhead said Monday.

“That tells us that they are proceeding with it, which is a good thing, so I’m happy to hear that.”

The intersection was the site of a deadly crash in 2023 that claimed the lives of 17 seniors.

Last summer, Premier Wab Kinew announced the province would scrap an unpopular RCUT model for the intersection of Highway 5 and the Trans-Canada Highway and announced in November that it would instead build an overpass at a cost of $100 million.

Construction of the overpass is set to start in 2027 and be completed in 2029 or 2030, he said at the time.

Muirhead said the overpass funding in the budget shows that the province is keeping its word.

“It tells us in the community and other stakeholders that they are following through with it. So that’s good,” he said, adding it “provides us with some comfort.”

The town had been in communication with the province about the overpass since the November announcement, he said.

“With projects of that magnitude, we always want to make sure that we want to stay on top of things and make sure that it’s progressing so it just doesn’t fall by the wayside,” Muirhead said. “They’ve been actually pretty good with us, and we have seen some activity out there.”

Several weeks ago, drilling companies were doing soil testing and checking ground stability around the intersection, he said.

The 2023 crash triggered the government to upgrade the intersection’s layout.

On June 15, 2023, a bus carrying seniors from the Dauphin area to the Sand Hills Casino south of Carberry was hit by a semi-truck.

In early 2024, a road safety report prepared for the province described the overpass as a long-term option, as it would require significant planning and analysis due to cost and potential impacts on surrounding communities.

In September of that year, however, the Town of Carberry formally endorsed an overpass as the community’s preferred choice for improving the safety of the intersection.

Last spring, community members hosted rallies, started petitions and blasted the province and planners at an open house in June over what the province then called its “preferred” RCUT option.

The RCUT design would have forced drivers going straight or turning left from Highway 5 to turn right before crossing over three lanes and making a U-turn 900 metres later. Drivers turning left from the Trans-Canada would have been able to turn at the intersection.

The model — which would have been the second RCUT in Canada — was unpopular due to fears it would be difficult and dangerous to navigate for farmers and truck drivers, and because the layout would be confusing.

Ray Drayson, reeve of the Municipality of North Cypress-Langford, where the intersection is located, did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. He had previously called the overpass a “bigtime improvement” compared to the RCUT.

» alambert@brandonsun.com