Small-town tenacity and a commendable decision

“(Premier Wab Kinew) said the only thing he wants to ask us as a community is to allow them some more time to go back to the drawing board, just to see what the next option is going to be.”

— Carberry Mayor Ray Muirhead

You just have to admire the tenacity of small-town Manitoba.

For the last several months, the provincial government has been working with consultants from Landmark Planning and Design and WSP Canada on plans for the redesign of the intersection of Highway 5 and the Trans-Canada Highway.

These consultations were necessitated by a horrific collision at that intersection between a small bus and a semi truck in June 2023 that claimed the lives of 17 seniors who were on their way from Dauphin to the Sand Hills Casino south of Carberry. These discussions followed an announcement in January 2024 by the Kinew government committing the province to spending $12 million to improve safety at that section of highway.

An independent safety report on the intersection released by the province at that time presented three intersection improvement options, including a roundabout, a widening of the median at the intersection, and a new “RCUT” intersection design that is widely used in the U.S., in which drivers turn onto a main road and make a U-turn at a one-way median.

In the wake of that announcement, the province and the consultants invited the public to several open-house events in Carberry, where the three options were presented to area residents and discussion was encouraged.

When it became clear several months ago that the province and the consultants viewed the RCUT design as their preferred choice — officially the RCUT was only named as the “preferred alternative” on June 25 — local municipalities and area residents rallied against the plan.

In May, around 175 people lined the side of a gravel service road near the intersection in protest of the RCUT intersection design, with residents carrying signs calling for the province to “fix it right” and demanding the government put the option of an overpass back on the table. Opponents of the RCUT design have argued that the province’s preferred model isn’t safe for the people who live and drive in the area — namely farmers and truckers.

There’s hundreds, if not thousands of trucks … plus all the other everyday passenger traffic coming through here,” said Jordan Dickson, one of the organizers of the rally in May. “For all those vehicles to have to merge onto the No. 1 (Trans-Canada), merge over three lanes, do a U-turn, merge back over — it’s spelling a recipe for a disaster.”

Residents also expressed their dislike of the RCUT design during the last open house held by the consultants and the province in Carberry on June 25.

“It is time for rural residents to get the same treatment as urban areas,” community member Debra Steen said to a representative from one of the consulting firms hired by the province. “We’re tired of getting the cheapest solution. You need to go back to the government and tell them this needs to be re-looked at. We demand an overpass.”

That tenacity — the demand for the province to hear their concerns and acknowledge them — needs to be publicly appreciated, because it was effective.

In a short statement issued on Wednesday afternoon, Premier Wab Kinew announced that his government will not proceed with the RCUT design at that intersection.

“While engineers identified it as a safe option, rural Manitobans told us it’s not the right fit. We’re listening, stepping back, and developing a new approach that prioritizes safety and reflects local needs,” Kinew said.

In his comments yesterday, the premier did not announce what might replace the RCUT option — no doubt Carberry residents would prefer the overpass they have been pushing for. That may well be a bridge too far for our cash-strapped province, which was looking at the RCUT as a cost-effective alternative to an overpass.

At the same time, going back to the drawing board will be a costly endeavour as consultants and provincial officials try to come up with new alternatives. Hopefully this process takes months, not years.

Residents of Carberry and the RM of North Cypress-Landford will likely be relieved to hear that the province is backing away from its initial choice of constructing an RCUT. Still, no one should be gloating over the premier’s decision — not that I think they are.

This redesign effort has always been about finding the most effective solution to what is a dangerous intersection. And while the various parties have been at loggerheads over the RCUT design, everyone involved has had the best of intentions — from the consultants to provincial and municipal officials and area residents.

While we commend the united front shown by municipal officials and Carberry residents, it is also important to acknowledge that the NDP government is not simply pushing forward with an unpopular design, “like it or not.”

The province has listened to the concerns expressed by Carberry and the municipality loud and clear, and has acted upon them.

And that, too, is commendable.

» Matt Goerzen, editor