Manitoba scales back plan to raise speed limits

WINNIPEG — Less traveled Manitoba highways will not have their speed limits raised to 110 km/h.

A proposal to raise the limit is being scaled back to include only a handful of major arteries, reports the Winnipeg Free Press.

Trans-Canada Highway; Hwy 75, which connects Winnipeg to the U.S. border; and the perimeter road around Winnipeg are the only three highways now being considered. Ten other divided, four-lane routes — including highways 7, 8, and 59 — are being dropped from the proposal, Transportation Minister Ron Lemieux said this week.

Proponents of the plan want the limit raised to reflect higher speeds allowed on all four-lane highways in neighboring Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Manitoba’s study will review Saskatchewan’s experience with higher speeds, specifically examining whether accident rates have climbed.

The Manitoba Trucking Association disapproves of the move to raise speed limits. In fact, the MTA, along with every other provincial trucking association in the country, is lobbying to have speed limiters set at 105 km/h mandated on all trucks.

— with files from the Winnipeg Free Press