Right in the centre - Hope amidst the grief

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Published on Thursday, August 31, 2017

Ken Waddell
The Neepawa Banner

The Hwy. 16 and Hwy. 1 intersection has generated an immense amount of sadness. In less than two weeks, six people lost their lives at the junction. There has been huge and unfair speculation as to the causes. We may never know what actually caused all these deaths. I strongly hesitate to even write about the events for fear of causing more sadness or to say anything that might cause even more hurt. So I won’t go into any conjecture about causes at all.

There has been calls now, and over the years, to build a cloverleaf or some form of interchange at that junction. It has been long discussed by the Highways department. Plans were looked at to build an interchange. The cost was estimated to be over $90 million. The Yellowhead Highway Association was of the opinion that the money would be better spent on passing lanes between Neepawa and Portage. The logic at the time was that there are lights at 16 and 1. The east-west traffic goes straight through and the traffic lights seem to have worked well. The westbound traffic that wants to head north on 16 has a speed curve. So does the traffic coming off 16 that wants to proceed west. The Traffic turning east to Portage off Hwy. 16 has to wait sometimes at the lights. There is very little traffic headed north into the intersection from the south side of the junction. We have travelled that junction many, many times and there has been little delay and hundreds of vehicles go through there every day.

The decision to build passing lanes on 16 instead of an interchange at 16 and 1 seemed to be the right decision. It wasn’t taken lightly. I know that because I heard the actual discussions and supported the decision. Those passing lanes were built and it was a conscious decision by the YHA and the government to go that route. We will never know how many lives the passing lanes may have saved.

There is no question that our highways are in dire need of repair. The number of pavement breaks, potholes and bad bridges is large. In fact, there is half of a bridge on the by-pass into Portage that fell down years ago and has never been replaced. Driving over half a bridge makes one a bit uneasy for sure.

Highway deaths have been a serious topic for a long time. In the 1960s, Hwy. 2 was a particularly deadly stretch of road. I remember researching that piece of road and giving a 4-H speech about traffic safety in the mid-1960s. In it, I pressed for seat belts. Yes, it’s true, seat belts were not compulsory in the 1960s. They were not standard equipment in cars. Neither were child car seats. Families put all the bigger kids in the back seat and the littler ones were held on somebody’s lap in the front seat.

The government needs to do a lot more highway construction and maintenance. The demands on the provincial budget for health care is 40 per cent of the whole budget. Education comes in at about 25 per cent and all the other departments divide up the remainder of the funds. There never has been “enough” money to build everything that we need. There likely never will be.

Concerning accidents, let’s just say this. Accidents happen, people are hurt, people die and families and communities experience horrendous grief. Let no one judge what actually happened and we may never know. If there was driver error, let no smugness or judgement creep into our thoughts, there isn’t one of us who hasn’t made a driving error and realized, a terrifying moment later, it was our error.

Concerning making safer highways, let’s be thankful for the improvements that have been made to Hwy. 16, to Hwy 10 recently, but push our highways people and politicians to do much more. If anyone of us could figure all these things out, we would be very smart people. As it is, all we can do is grieve as we hope and plan for improvements. The lost loved ones and their families deserve nothing less.