Work on the rehabilitation of Highway 18 has been underway for a few years, and construction is underway on one of the final stages, the stretch between Estevan and Outram. Provincial Highways Minister David Marit stated the crews are on-site, and the paving is expected to be completed this year. Once it is wrapped up, it will be what he calls a major upgrade for the highway from Estevan to the junction with Highway 6.
“The highway was really deplorable,” Marit described. “What was happening is that people were coming from the west and wanting to go to Estevan. They were bypassing 18 Highway, and they were going up and going down 13 Highway, so we felt it, obviously, was important.”
Where the tricky part of getting the upgrades completed was the traffic volume, Highways that are more frequently used are more likely to get work done than highways that are rarely used. The there is the paradox that arises from little traffic volume on a stretch of highway due to its condition.
“We look at traffic volumes, and things like that, and of course, Highway 18 was at a place where nobody was travelling it because of the condition,” Marit explained. “It’s kind of like the chicken and egg thing. If you build it, they will come.”
The municipalities in the area, such as Torquay and Lake Alma, also played a role in the rehabilitation work being done.
“The discussion really started with the local municipalities years ago and saying, look, if you want people to come into your area, we're going to have to work together to have a highway,” Marit said. “If those communities and municipalities wouldn't have come to the table back in 2016-17, I don't know where Highway 18 would be.”
With the work in the final stages, the Highways Minister is hoping the finished highway will make it easier for residents of the region, as well as those who need to use the highway to travel to the communities on it.
“It has a big impact for those communities, but everybody that lives along that highway as well, to have a safe highway and a good highway to travel in and out of Estevan, whether it's for personal health care or whatever the case may be, to do their business of the day.”