Major road projects planned for Riding Mountain
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Submitted
Riding Mountain MLA Greg Nesbitt
The new Progressive Conservative government will work to improve infrastructure in Manitoba this summer, including several major projects in the Riding Mountain constituency.
Budget 2016 has earmarked more than $1.8 billion dollars for roads, bridges, municipal infrastructure, hospitals and schools.
Our funding is guaranteed and predictable to enable better civic and business planning. Under the previous NDP administration, Manitobans endured a boom and bust cycle with more spending being done leading up to an election. We have committed to investing no less than $1 billion for each year of our mandate.
Major road reconstruction is set to continue on Highways 10 and 16 as part of the Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation’s multi-year highway infrastructure capital program. A total of 25.6 kilometres on Hwy. 10 from just north of Hwy. 24 to Minnedosa will be widened and paved at a total cost of more than $8 million. A dangerous curve will also be realigned. The work may continue into the next construction year.
Acquisition of right-of-way for 43.5 kilometres along Hwy. 10 from just north of the north junction with Highway 16 to Riding Mountain National Park will begin this year to allow for future road reconstruction.
Major work including grade realignment, widening, base and intersection improvements, along with 22.9 kilometres of paving from Binscarth to just east of Foxwarren is underway. Total cost of this project is over $10 million.
The bridge over Assiniboine River west of Russell on Hwy. 16 is scheduled to be re-built at a cost of $8.5 million.
High performance chip seal will be applied to Hwy. 21 from Shoal Lake to Oakburn, Hwy. 45 from Provincial Road (PR) 566 to PR 250, and from the north junction of Hwy. 42 to the south junction of Hwy. 16. Several other smaller chip sealing projects are also slated in the area.
I am pleased that Budget 2016 addressed the huge deficit left by the NDP, while at the same time continuing to renew infrastructure. We will reduce the core deficit by $122 million to $890 million – a 12 per cent improvement over the 2015-16 prediction. The budget has no new tax hikes and gives Manitobans a permanent tax break that will keep up with the cost of living by ending bracket creep and indexing income tax brackets at the rate of inflation.
