Submitted by:
Ron Kostyshyn,
MLA for Swan River
Rural Manitobans know better than anyone how important it is to have safe, good quality infrastructure.
Every day, truckers, farmers and drivers — you might be one of them — count on our roads, highways and bridges to be safe, well-maintained and designed to keep traffic moving. A reliable road network helps farmers, logging companies and many other businesses make the most of our location in the heart of the continent. And whether you’re hauling grain or hauling your kids to hockey practice, we all want safe roads.
For people who live in the wake of flood waters, dikes are another critical type of infrastructure, key to protecting businesses, homes and families’ safety. Maintaining good roads, highways, bridges and flood protection takes significant public investment. That’s why our NDP government is putting forward a $10-billion infrastructure plan to keep building for the future. Our new plan takes our province beyond 2020, but you can already see results.
This summer, construction crews finished fixing 33 kilometres of Highway 10 north of Bowsman, plus sections north of Red Deer River and east of Swan River. I’ve driven on many of these newly repaired stretches and I can confirm that it’s now a smooth ride.
Crews will repave another 28 kilometres of Highway 10 next year, from Highway 20 to the Louisiana-Pacific access road, plus a section just west of Cowan.
On Road 327, we’re repaving 21 kilometres from Highway 60 to Easterville. And we helped put in new traffic lights near Swan Valley Regional Secondary School to help keep students safe when crossing the highway.
On Highway 10 north of Ashville, crews are almost finished building a new bridge to cross the Drifting River. The roadwork will finish in the spring, and then it will be ready to use. In addition, we expect the new bridge at Fork River to be finished early this winter.
As for flood protection, crews have finished building the federally-funded temporary dikes for Skownan. Among projects our provincial government has helped fund, the dikes for Waterhen and Crane River are finished. The dike for Winnipegosis is 45% complete, and the dike protecting Duck Bay is half done, with work expected to finish in 2016.
These are just a few examples of the roads, bridges, highways and flood protection that we’re adding and improving across Manitoba, and there are more improvements to come. Projects like these form the backbone of our infrastructure plan, which is boosting our economy by billions of dollars and creating tens of thousands of good jobs. Our NDP government believes in making strong investments in infrastructure because it makes life better for regular Manitobans. We haven’t always gotten it right, but we’re making progress on what matters to people right here in the Swan River constituency.
I’d love to hear your ideas on roads and other issues that matter to you. Please call my office at 1-204-734-4900 or visit RonKostyshyn.ca.