Northern MLA Petitions For Repairs To Hwy. 102

Northern MLA Petitions For Repairs To Hwy. 102

Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at 13:22

 

 

The state of a highway north of La Ronge came up during debate in the Saskatchewan Legislature yesterday.

 

Cumberland MLA Doyle Vermette presented a petition signed by citizens in La Ronge, Air Ronge and Sucker River, urging the government to repair Highway 102. Vermette says the road has become unsafe.

 

Vermette said the highway is so bad that drivers with wide load trailers are dodging the holes in the highway to prevent damage to their trucks and becoming a traffic hazard themselves.

 

He added that emergency medical personnel are concerned about the effects on their patients when the ambulances transporting patients drive on such roads. Both EMS personnel and the RCMP are concerned about response times to emergency calls.

 

Vermette also noted that a bridge 40 kilometres south of La Ronge is caving in.

 

Highways Minister Wayne Elhard says work will be done on that bridge in the coming months.

 

In the case of Highway 102, Elhard said that if there is a safety issue that can be addressed right now, it will be.

 

However, he added that if Vermette is asking for the road to be rebuilt, the answer is, “No.”

 

Elhard says the government is currently in the process of evaluating road project priorities in northern Saskatchewan. Highway 102 will be evaluated in competition with all the other roads in the North that need fixing.