Intersection design still in dispute 2 years after crash

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/06/2025 (248 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This past Sunday marked the two-year anniversary of a collision between a bus and a semi that claimed the lives of 17 Manitoba seniors at the intersection of Highway 5 and the Trans-Canada Highway near Carberry.

The anniversary was marked rather quietly — but no less thoughtfully — by the City of Dauphin on Sunday morning with a Facebook post signed by that city’s mayor, council and staff that noted the solemn anniversary and recalled how the tragic bus crash had “deeply affected” the community by taking the lives of so many Dauphin citizens.

“We recognize the strength and resilience that our community has shown in the face of unimaginable grief, and we stand together in remembrance and reflection,” the post read. “We will never forget.”

Aside from remembering and honouring the grief of friends and family this week, it’s worth recalling the memory of this incident because the changes needed to prevent another such collision at the intersection are still in the planning stages.

And it would seem that the province and the local residents are at loggerheads over exactly what intersection design will win out.

In January of last year, the Manitoba government announced that it would spend $12 million for safety improvements at the Carberry crash intersection. A report prepared by WSP Canada Inc. presented three potential intersection improvement options, including the construction of a roundabout, widening the median at the intersection, or implementing a new Restricted Crossing U-Turn (RCUT) design.

The RCUT design specifically directs drivers to turn onto a main road and make a U-turn at a one-way median. While it is a widely used concept in the United States, it’s still relatively new and untested in Canada.

In fact, Canada’s first RCUT intersection was built in 2023 on Highway 16 near Saskatoon on what is a four-lane divided highway where a two-way stop-controlled junction had seen many serious and fatal collisions. An RCUT design here in Manitoba at Carberry would become the second.

Should an RCUT design win out, the Carberry RCUT would include U-turns both east and west of the current intersection, and would force drivers turning left from Highway 5 to turn right onto the Trans-Canada, merge to the left and take a U-turn.

Notably absent from the list of options, however, is the possibility of constructing an overpass at that location. Construction of an interchange was noted as a long-term option, as it would require significant planning and analysis due to cost and potential impacts on surrounding communities. At the January 2024 press conference, the province said that an interchange or overpass would come with a price tag of about $100 million and a 20-year-plus timeline.

The overpass option was not offered by the province during the first public consultation meeting, as it was argued that the cost made it unfeasible at this time. However, an overpass has been talked about by community members at great length. So much so that last September, the Town of Carberry formally endorsed a grade-separated interchange (overpass) as the preferred option by the community.

But Carberry Mayor Ray Muirhead told the Sun this past March that the province took the overpass option “off the table,” and has been leaning toward the construction of an RCUT as the best solution for the intersection.

“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,” Muirhead said.

But as the mayor said, the community wants an overpass, so that traffic is not impeded and there’s no slowdown along the highway.

In a last-ditch effort to make the provincial government listen to their concerns, about 175 people lined the side of a gravel service road near the Highway 5 and Trans-Canada Highway intersection to oppose the construction of an RCUT.

Protester concerns here were relevant, as the region is subject to a large amount of agricultural vehicle traffic along both highways. Their main concern was that big vehicles such as semi-trucks and tractors hauling equipment would have a difficult time matching highway speed before slowing down for a U-turn.

They also complained that the province conducted its traffic survey of the intersection in July, which they said is among the least busy times of the year. The province, they said, should have done the survey in the spring or fall when trucks and equipment are on the move.

We have to question whether the province has fully considered the needs of this agricultural area while it looks to improve the safety of the intersection. This is not an idle concern either, as it has been said that the province’s consultants aren’t listening to the local community.

“They roll their eyes, they brush us off,” said one of the protesters last May. If true, that is unacceptable. It’s not helpful to so easily dismiss the concerns of a community that has witnessed far too many collisions at such a dangerous intersection.

But we would also encourage Carberry residents not to outright dismiss the possibility that an RCUT may be a solid option. Studies in the United States have shown a significant improvement in highway safety and a decrease in collisions where an RCUT has been incorporated into a highway design.

It’s also noteworthy that the design for Saskatchewan’s RCUT near Saskatoon was just presented with the 2025 Road Safety Achievement Award by the Transportation Association of Canada two weeks ago.

Manitoba is planning to move forward with construction on whatever design it ultimately chooses by early 2026. While it’s terrible that it took such a tragedy for there to be improvements to this intersection, we have to acknowledge that there is forward momentum for change by the province.

Our hope is that political expediency and fiscal restraint will not unhelpfully eclipse the needs of the region.

» Matt Goerzen, editor