Sask truck route partly complete

YORKTON, Sask. – The first phase of Saskatchewan’s Yorkton West Truck Route is now complete and the second construction phase is expected to be finished in 2011.

Highways and Infrastructure Minister Jim Reiter officially declared the stretch open to traffic this week.

The route will support the new canola crushing plants and related truck traffic just west of Yorkton, said Reiter.

The $8.2 million phase one involved moving a 5.3 km long segment of Highway 16 about 400 metres south; re-aligning Highway 16’s access to Grain Millers Drive; and re-aligning a portion of Grain Millers Drive.

Construction on the Phase 2 portion began in October and involves building a 6 km long bypass highway connecting Highway 16 and Grain Millers Drive to Highway 52, along with building turning lanes at the intersection of Highway 52 and the bypass highway. Construction on this phase is expected to be open to traffic in 2011.

Meanwhile, the department of transport also announced that the transformation of Highway 32 in southwest Saskatchewan from a pothole-riddled road to a smooth, newly-paved route is also complete.

The project fixed the 56 km highway between Shackleton and Prelate.