City signs new highway partnership agreement with provincial gov’t

The City of Swift Current has signed a new 10year partnership agreement with the Saskatchewan government for the maintenance and rehabilitation of highways within city limits that are part of the provincial road network.

Council members approved the new Urban Highway Connector Program (UHCP) agreement with the Ministry of Highways during a regular City council meeting, July 25. The provincial government created the UHCP in 2008 to provide a framework for the cost of constructing, rehabilitating and maintaining those sections of the provincial highway system within the boundaries of urban municipalities.

City General Manager of Infrastructure and Operations Mitch Minken provided details about the UHCP and the new agreement during the meeting. “Under provincial legislation, urban municipalities are responsible for the roadways within their boundaries,” he said. “However, the UHCP policy recognizes that municipalities play an important role in the provincial economy by serving as key collection points for goods that are shipped by truck or rail. Consequently, the policy provides a framework to provide maintenance funding for these urban highway connectors based on the provincial interest.”

The UHCP roadways within the municipal boundaries of Swift Current are Highway 1 and 4, including the on and off-ramps and the service roads.

The previous UHCP agreement between the City and the Ministry of Highways was signed in November 2009. The new agreement is for a 10-year period that started April 1, 2022.

The Ministry of Highways will be completely responsible for the maintenance of Highway 1 within the municipal boundaries and it is also responsible for the maintenance of most of Highway 4 within City limits. However, the City will be responsible for the operation and maintenance of sections of Highway 4, known as Memorial Drive.

The Ministry of Highways will make an annual payment of $41,741 to the City for the maintenance of service roads, the Memorial Drive section from Springs Drive to Saskatchewan Drive, and the Memorial Drive section from the north end of the baseball diamonds to the railroad tracks. This amount represents an estimated 75 per cent of the maintenance cost of these roadways.

The agreement makes it possible for the City to submit a funding application to the Ministry of Highways for the cost of rehabilitation projects on urban connector roads. City Manager of Engineering Services Jolene Peters said the City will apply annually for funding.

“Every year the Ministry asks us to submit our top two priorities with a maximum of $500,000 being the threshold they would like to see for these applications, and then depending on our application and their budget, we wait to hear,” she explained. “The last one we did receive was Memorial Drive. They repaved that seven or six years ago. So we apply every year and wait to see if we are chosen.”

The new agreement includes a commitment from the Ministry of Highways to fully fund the next rehabilitation of several connector and non-connector roads, which are specified in the agreement. It includes the Highway 4 bypass connector from Saskatchewan Drive to Central Avenue, a section of Central Avenue from Battleford Trail to the northern City limit, various Highway 1 on and off-ramps, and several sections of service roads.

“As part of the agreement, they’re responsible to do a rehabilitation before they actually hand it over to our ownership,” Minken said during an interview after the meeting. “So once they’ve done the rehabilitation, then it will become ours and our responsibility fully.” He indicated the City benefits from a key difference between the old and new UHCP agreement. Highway 4 was considered to be part of the City road inventory in the previous agreement.

“That’s probably the major change,” he said. “In this one, the majority of Highway 4 now has moved back to the province and it is their full responsibility for maintenance and rebuild. So that’s probably the biggest impact that agreement has for us, which is very positive for the City.”