West St. Paul residents chafed over access point

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This article was published 16/12/2021 (1107 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some West St. Paul residents are up in arms about the province’s planned removal of two access points to their community from the north Perimeter Highway.

Those are the east and west access roads to Holmes Road, which leads into West St. Paul. The east access has already been closed and the west access will be removed by 2025. The project is a part of the province’s plan to turn the Perimeter Highways into an access-controlled freeway.

One reason the province cites for the changes is improved safety, but West St. Paul resident Mike Yosyk thinks that’s simply a tool the province is using to push through its agenda.

“That was probably one of the main things that we, as residents, raised. We said, ‘listen, if an emergency vehicle needs to get to our developments, or to the school for a kid, you just knocked out the most direct points of access, period,’” he said.

Yosyk said he believes that could add another five or 10 minutes, depending on road conditions, which he worries could make a big difference in an emergency situation.

“I’ve seen it … someone needed an ambulance and the ambulance came flying down through the east access, got into that area and got to those people very quickly. That won’t happen anymore,” Yosyk said.

The residents are also upset over the communication they’ve received from the province, Yosyk said.

“They say one thing, then they’ll do the exact opposite,” he said.

Yosyk has been sending emails to the province since September, and he said while the responses have come, he believes they’ve simply been “lip service” to pacify him and other residents.
     Yosyk said he wanted the province to “sit down at the table” with West St. Paul residents.

A provincial public engagement survey was open to the public between March 22 and April 10, 2021. The survey was announced in a March 22 press release and “advertised through local government websites and social media,” according to the province. The survey garnered 1,224 responses, and 35 per cent of the respondents self-identified as residents of the area.

According to the province, 81 per cent of respondents thought the proposed changes to the access points in question were either “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to address the safety of the Perimeter Highway.

Doug Struthers of Manitoba Infrastructure said in an email the changes come as a result of the 2018 Perimeter Safety Review, and they are an effort to address access points “where there is the greatest risk of severe collisions.”

Struthers said accessing the community via Pipeline Road is a safer alternative because the speed limit is reduced to 80 km/h through the intersection and it has turning lanes.