Overpass ‘off the table,’ says mayor

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This article was published 20/03/2025 (210 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Community residents in and around the town of Carberry would like to see the province build an overpass at the intersection where a collision between a semi-truck and a minibus claimed the lives of 17 Dauphin seniors in 2023.

But according to Carberry Mayor Ray Muirhead, the province seems to prefer a different option.

“They’ve taken the overpass option off the table,” Muirhead told the Sun on Wednesday. “So we’re back to (asking) which way do we want to go on this?”

The collision took place on June 15, 2023 at the intersection of Highway 5 and the Trans-Canada Highway at Carberry, as a bus carrying a group of seniors from the Dauphin area was heading to the Spirit Sands Casino.

Since then, the province has been holding public consultations with area residents, with the first session held in July of last year described by Muirhead as a kind of “get to know you” introduction with the community. At that time, he said, the province was talking about short-term and long-term plans, with more immediate plans to initiate speed reductions and traffic lights.

The province had already committed to spend $12 million to improve the highway intersection in early January last year. At that time, the province released a report prepared by WSP Canada Inc. that presented three potential intersection improvement options, and promised to conduct public consultations with area residents.

Those options included the construction of a roundabout, widening the median at the intersection, or implementing a new Restricted Crossing U-Turn (RCUT) design, a widely used concept in the U.S. that directs drivers to turn onto a main road and make a U-turn at a one-way median.

The province had previously noted that an interchange or overpass could be built at the intersection, but such a long-term solution came with a 20-year-plus timeline and a cost estimate of considerably more than $100 million.

The overpass option was not offered by the province during the first public consultation meeting, though it was talked about by community members.

“But the second meeting we had, apparently the overpass was back on the table — an elevated grade is what they called it. It’s just a fancier name for an overpass. So once the overpass was back on the table, that was the position that the town and the local community took.”

However, provincial representatives recently sat down with the Town of Carberry council in a private meeting, ahead of another scheduled public consultation scheduled for March 24.

In that private discussion, Muirhead says the province took the overpass option off the table.

“I think the way they’re leaning … the way I understood it … they’re leaning toward an RCUT,” Muirhead said. “If they put one at the intersection here, that would be the only one in Manitoba. And I believe they’re looking at the intersection out here as kind of the template as to what they want to do down the road. We’re not the only (dangerous) intersection in Manitoba, of course.”

But the general consensus around the region, Muirhead said, is that an overpass would provide a safer, albeit more expensive option for motorists and area residents.

“The community wants an overpass. Our community, the RM of North-Cypress Langford, Town of Carberry. I think all stakeholders are looking for an overpass. That way traffic is not impeded and there’s no slowdown, there’s no stopping.”

In an emailed statement this week, a provincial spokesperson said Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure will present the preferred alternative and receive public feedback at another open house later this year.

The project remains on schedule, the spokesperson stated, “with construction scheduled to begin in early 2026 and traffic availability set for fall 2026.”

Monday’s public meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at the Carberry Collegiate on Main Street in Carberry.

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