18th Street voted worst in province

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This article was published 22/05/2024 (481 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon’s 18th Street has been named the worst road in the province, according to votes cast by Manitobans and counted by CAA Manitoba.

There are plans in place to fix Brandon’s pothole-ridden main artery, and it might be as soon as this summer, says Brandon’s mayor.

Each year, CAA Manitoba runs a month-long campaign encouraging all Manitobans to nominate the road they feel is the worst. Motorists, cyclists and pedestrians used an online nominating platform on CAA’s website. Once a day, they were able to choose as many roads in the province as they wanted to nominate as the worst roads.

Last year, 18th Street — which runs north and south through the city — was voted the second-worst road in Manitoba.

This year’s No. 1 ranking is no surprise to the Wheat City’s Steve Baker, who said he drives on it everyday.

“It’s ridiculous,” Baker said. “You either hold your breath and you go over a hole or swerve to avoid hitting one. But that doesn’t always work either because there’s more over there. How is this allowed to happen?”

Dr. Tra Sin agreed that 18th Street is in poor condition. The optometrist recently moved to Brandon from The Pas and said the roads were better in the northern community.

“Eighteenth Street is not good. I have my route planned and I know which holes I need to go around. Sometimes I go into the other lane and that’s not good. I can’t believe how much better the roads are in The Pas and even in Winkler,” said Sin.

Of the 137 municipalities in Manitoba, 71 participated in CAA’s annual Worst Roads campaign, with thousands of votes based on factors like potholes, no sidewalks or bike paths, congestion and traffic lights being out of sync.

Two Brandon roads made it to the top 10, with Richmond Avenue voted the 10th-worst road, tied with Inkster Boulevard in Winnipeg.

But 18th Street was the “clear winner,” said Ewald Friesen, CAA Manitoba’s manager of government and community relations.

“There’s a lot of discontent coming out of Brandon for this one,” Friesen said. “Eighteenth Street was in our top 10 list in 2022 and has actually been climbing over the years to second place in 2023, to this year, when it took the No. 1 spot.”

Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett said it’s not a surprise that 18th Street is No. 1 this year.

“It’s been pointed out that it’s the worst, and would be where my vote would go,” Fawcett said. “We’re all well aware of 18th Street and everybody openly realizes this is the worst spring we’ve ever had for potholes. Staff who’ve been filling the potholes with the city for decades and decades will tell you that.

“And we’re working with the province on it,” he said.

Even though 18th Street is a major thoroughfare that runs through the centre of the city, it falls under provincial jurisdiction, and any repairs are the responsibility of the Manitoba government.

Under the previous Progressive Conservative government, a funding commitment was made to repave 18th Street, which Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor confirmed her NDP government will honour.

“Absolutely,” Naylor told the Sun Tuesday.

“Eighteenth Street was on the schedule to be done a bit later, in a couple of years time. But it’s very obvious from recent observations and reports that infrastructure does need to be fixed sooner rather than later,” Naylor said.

“So, the agreement we made with mayor and council was that they needed to complete the sewer work under the street before we do the resurfacing of that road.”

The agreement is for preliminary work to be done before the province can repave, which involves replacing watermains and sewers at several locations along 18th Street.

Earlier this month, the City of Brandon issued a tender calling for a construction company to undertake that work, which includes replacing the watermain along 18th Street between Park and College avenues and near the intersection at Aberdeen Avenue in the city’s south end.

As well, sewer repairs are required near the northern and southern ends of the Keystone Centre grounds and at the intersection of 18th Street and Lorne Avenue next to Brandon University.

Bids close on May 28, with the winning contractor expected to have the work completed by July 31, said Fawcett.

“If the weather co-operates and everything goes smoothly, that’s what it’s based on,” he said.

Along with naming the worst roads in the province, CAA Manitoba also released statistics about driver “discontent,” which Friesen said is increasing with the “state of our roads.”

Fifty-four per cent of Manitobans have encountered vehicle damage because of worse roads, according to Friesen, and 70 per cent of those people are paying out of pocket rather than making a claim with Manitoba Public Insurance.

“As a matter of fact, only 16 per cent filed a claim with MPI, for various reasons, possibly just to get their cars back on the road,” said Friesen, adding that the out-of-pocket cost for Manitobans has now reached an average of $962 per claim.

“Our campaign is not about shaming and blaming, it’s to get a snapshot of where this frustration is,” he said. “And then your friends here at CAA take this in our government relations efforts, and we bring it to the people who can make a decision about the state of our roads.”

Ongoing infrastructure projects — including Brandon’s 18th Street — are included in the NDP’s $500-million capital budget, Naylor said.

“Under the previous government, there were huge amounts of cuts to highway maintenance and that’s had an impact over the years,” she said. “And so, we definitely are in a position now that we’ve increased our highway maintenance budget in order to address issues like this.”

Provincewide, other locations that made CAA Manitoba’s worst road list include Leila Avenue in Winnipeg, which came in second place, and Highway 307 in Whiteshell Provincial Park, about 110 kilometres east of Winnipeg, which came in third.

Despite its third-place finish, Highway 307 is a success story, Friesen said, noting it was No. 1 last year.

“When we brought Highway 307 to the attention of lawmakers, the year that we did that, surface rehabilitation was completed in various locations on a stretch of about 12 kilometers,” he said.

Road safety is the issue, he added, with CAA Manitoba being an advocate for everyone who uses the road.

“Our motivation has only been for the protection of motorists and road users. We deserve to have good, safe roads in Manitoba,” he said.

“And we participate in the ongoing discussion which is being had by road safety advocates across the continent on how to get to Vision Zero, which is no road fatalities. So that’s a conversation we’re always a part of.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

» X: @enviromichele