Large vehicles having issues getting around
Critics say farm equipment scraping against square curbs, risking tire damage
The province is responding to concerns that the new Regina Bypass roundabouts are too small.
David Stearns, an executive director in the Ministry of Economy, told reporters Monday large trucks or farming equipment “should have no problem getting through the interchange at all.”
That statement came after complaints were made over the Balgonie-area roundabouts being too narrow for farm equipment.
“The problem with the bypass right now that we’re hearing from folks that are trying to use the Balgonie overpass is that it’s slightly too narrow for large trucks and agriculture equipment to be able to drive on it, and anyone with common sense would know that this new bypass would need to accommodate things like large agricultural vehicles,” said NDP interim leader Nicole Sarauer.
Stearns said the roundabout interchange was designed for the standard five-axle semi-truck most seen on the highways, as well as another common type of tractor-trailer truck.
Wider vehicles are expected to use an apron near the curb as they travel around the roundabout, he said.
The main concern is that even with the apron, wide vehicles are scraping up against the square curb and risking damage to tires as a result.
“It’s a frustrating thing to hear, we’ve heard many times about this project failing,” said Sarauer. “This is a project that the Sask. Party said has been studied to death, they told us to trust them, they sunk $2 billion into it, they hired a foreign conglomerate from France and they still can’t seem to get it right.”
Stearns said this was “absolutely not” an oversight and maintained the interchange was “designed for large trucks and farming equipment to get through.”
“Clearly though, we wouldn’t want to see a farmer have their tires scuffed, so we are looking to make some potential changes to some of the curbs, where instead of having square-faced curbs, we would have rounded curbs, but other than that, clearly the equipment can get through,” he said, adding very minor changes and adjustments are anticipated on projects as large as this one.
Sarauer said farmers and truckers not being able to use the bypass is “just another example of this government’s major mismanagement on very important projects.”
Engineers involved with the bypass are reviewing what to do about the issue, but Stearns could not provide a time or dollar estimate on resolving it.
Cost has long been a touchy subject regarding the bypass. The project was originally supposed to cost $400 million, but it was expanded to include a larger scope and now is budgeted to cost $1.88 billion, which includes maintenance, reconstruction and snow removal for the next 34 years.
The Regina Bypass project is expected to be finished in 2019.