The Manitoba government is moving ahead with a major highway safety project north of Winnipeg. A tender has been issued for $18.3 million in upgrades to Provincial Trunk Highway 8 near Gimli, where four new passing lanes are planned.
Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor says the decision comes after years of complaints about the busy route, which sees high volumes of cottage traffic as well as commercial transport. She emphasizes that safety is the driving concern for the project.
“Anyone who's driven that highway in recent years is really aware of how challenging it can be when the traffic is heavy, when lots of folks are traveling up to their cottages and are camping, and we want to keep our roads safer,” notes Naylor. “That's the number one priority of my department.”
How the new lanes will help
The minister explains that the upgrades will give drivers safe opportunities to overtake slow-moving vehicles without veering into oncoming traffic.
“What that does is it certainly lengthens the amount of time people have for passing,” says Naylor. “The busier our highways are, the riskier that kind of passing is. So we'll be reducing that type of passing on Highway 8 by creating specified lanes in which to pass.”
Construction and tender process
The project is expected to be completed in fall 2026. Until then, traffic will be managed by contractors as part of the construction plan.
Message to motorists
Naylor stresses that the province’s commitment is to safety, both for motorists and for construction crews who will be working on site.
“You know what we're really excited about is our focus on safety for the highway, safety for everyone who uses the highway,” she says. “Because we have a big project coming up in that area, I also just want to remind motorists to keep our workers safe, too, when they're on the highway constructing these changes.”
Broader investment in Manitoba roads
The minister adds that Gimli is not the only community benefiting from road improvements.
“We've been doing all kinds of improvements across the province since our government came in in 2023,” Naylor notes. “There's been multiple rehabilitation projects and surface treatments, and when we're able to, and it's deemed necessary by traffic volume, then we look at things like passing lanes.”
The province also announced more than 100 kilometres of other roadway projects in the Parkland-Interlake region this year, including:
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a 45-kilometre rehabilitation on Provincial Road 224 near Fisher Bay,
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six kilometres of surface treatment on PR 239 west of PTH 6,
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23 kilometres of reconstruction on PTH 6 near Fairford River,
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20 kilometres of rehabilitation on PTH 5 between PTH 20 and PTH 10, and
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13 kilometres of rehabilitation on PTH 10 between PR 367 and PR 271.
With files by Tylor Baer.
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