Interest but no date for twinning

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This article was published 15/08/2022 (765 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba is in the “early stages” of exploring how to twin its last remaining undivided stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway, while a grieving family demands immediate action from the premier.

Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk said Manitoba is in talks with Ontario to ensure a future twinning project aligns with one underway in that province.

“This is something that we’re going to look into (in) the future,” Piwniuk said Monday, while giving an update on Perimeter Highway construction projects. “Our department is looking at the possibility of what we need to do next and looking at possible design.”

Piwniuk did not commit to a timeline.

The widening of a 17-kilometre section of Highway 1, between Falcon Lake and the Manitoba-Ontario boundary in Canadian shield territory, would bring unique challenges.

“There’s a lot of work there… when it comes to rocks. There is a lot of topography we have to deal with,” said Piwniuk. “It’s going to be a substantial investment to twin that portion of the highway.”

Previous governments studied twinning the road, but that was before Ontario moved forward with a project of its own.

Piwniuk spoke to reporters while the family of a Dryden, Ont., father and son killed in a head-on crash urged Premier Heather Stefanson to make dividing the Trans-Canada a top priority.

Mark Lugli, 54, was driving his 17-year-old son, Jacob, to a junior golf tournament in Selkirk when an eastbound tractor-trailer swerved into their lane near Barren Lake on July 21, 2019.

Their loved ones were told the transport driver was trying to avoid crashing into stationary traffic in his lane while a driver attempted to make a legal left turn onto a private road for cottages.

They were informed the man pleaded guilty to two counts of careless driving causing death. He is due to be sentenced Aug. 24.

Following a series of Free Press articles this month, the family is sending a letter to Stefanson’s office Tuesday, calling for the two-lane highway to be doubled to prevent similar crashes.

“The sections (of the Trans-Canada) that are twinned are so much better to drive, and you feel safer on them than those that aren’t,” said Lynn Konkle, the wife of Mark Lugli and mother of Jacob. “Twinning across Canada would be ideal.”

“We think it’s a pretty straightforward decision to make,” said Mark Lugli’s brother, Peter, who signed the letter on his family’s behalf. “It’s way overdue.”

Peter Lugli, who grew up in Dryden and now lives near Seattle, said the decades-old untwinned section doesn’t meet modern needs of the region and long-distance travellers.

“It’s become particularly treacherous and dangerous,” he said.

In its letter, the family acknowledged it deals with its loss every day, and is committed to sparing others from the same pain.

“Tragedies along this 17 kilometres of perilous single-highway road are less a question of if, than when. It’s time to act,” the letter states.

The Luglis and Konkles have heard from residents, cottage owners, truckers and motorists who are in favour of twinning the stretch, which is a key trade route.

“We have yet to hear any voice, save that of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, that is opposed to a commitment, today, to twin Manitoba’s Highway 1 from the Ontario border,” the letter states. “It is past the time of thoughtful review. It is time for thoughtful engineering and roadwork – and solid Manitoba know-how to meet topographical challenges.

“Doing nothing but more review will increase the odds for new tragedies to occur on this government’s watch.”

Stefanson’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Dryden resident Bonny Skene signed the letter on behalf of northwestern Ontario motorists who use the undivided section in Manitoba to access everything from medical appointments and Winnipeg’s airport to youth sports tournaments and big-box stores.

“The road infrastructure, as it exists today, was not designed for this volume of traffic on it,” said Skene. “What happened to the Lugli family could have been any of us.”

An average of 4,870 vehicles use the undivided section every day, according to a traffic count by the province in 2017.

Skene said long lines of traffic can form on the two-lane stretch, and that can lead to frustration and impatient drivers doing “silly things” when there are few opportunities to pass via the oncoming lane.

A twinned highway wouldn’t eliminate crashes, but it would ease congestion that leads to “poor choices” by drivers, she said.

“This is a national transportation corridor, and it is a matter of national importance,” she said.

The Manitoba Trucking Association has told the province its members want the section to be twinned within same timeline as Ontario.

CAA Manitoba said it would welcome such a project.

Manitoba’s opposition NDP and Liberals have both said now is the time to divide the lanes, given Ontario’s project is underway after years of talks.

In June, Ontario began construction of the first of three phases to divide about 40 kilometres of the Trans-Canada from the provincial boundary to the Kenora area.

The first section — 6.5 kilometres from the provincial boundary to Ontario Highway 673 — is due to be completed at the end of 2024.

So far, Ontario has spent more than $31 million on that phase, a government spokesman said.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching