Federal-provincial prairie grain road repairs begin in Manitoba

WINNIPEG (Oct. 12, 2001) — Manitoba’s first of 25 projects approved under the new federal-provincial-municipal Prairie Grain Roads Program will see an upgrade completed on 28 kilometres of Provincial Trunk Highway 68 (PTH 68) in the Interlake area.

The federal and provincial governments are funding the $6.7 million PTH 68 project equally.

The work on PTH 68 from PTH 17 to PTH 7 includes laying granular base and paving a 27.7-kilometre section of the road. The route is the primary east-west grain-hauling corridor for the Interlake region and runs through the rural municipalities of Fisher and Bifrost. The project is expected to be completed in late this fall or in Summer 2002.

Under the five-year Prairie Grain Roads Program (PGRP), $175 million in federal funding will go toward the upgrading of Western Canadian roads bearing the weight of heavy grain traffic. Manitoba’s $32.8 million allotment of PGRP funding will be split 50/50 between municipal roads and provincial highways on projects selected by a joint federal-provincial-municipal committee. The province and municipalities will each contribute $16.4 million to match the federal funds for total program spending of $65.6 million.

The PGRP is administered in Manitoba by representatives from all three levels of government. All projects under the program must be completed by Dec. 31, 2005.