Province gives update on plans for intersection of Highway 12 and PR 210

Ste. Anne residents will have an opportunity in spring to speak with the province about the intersection of highways 12 and 210. This intersection has been notorious for serious collisions and near-misses. 

Manitoba’s Transportation and Infrastructure says the province is planning to hold an open house so the community can share their thoughts about safety improvements to the dangerous intersection where numerous collisions have caused injuries and claimed lives. 

Lisa Naylor says the first round of engagement has been completed with the town and the Rural Municipality of Ste. Anne. 

Three design options are now being prepared and will be presented to the public via engagemb.ca. 

“I would just like to encourage folks in the community to engage either in the public open house or the Engage Manitoba process and that will help to determine what the ultimate design looks like,” Naylor says. 

“In terms of the period of time from now going forward, once we move past the functional design process and this next step of engagement happens, then the more detailed design occurs. The whole process, usually from the beginning of functional design to being able to start to build, is usually an 18-month process. So, things are on track from where they started in the fall, and we look forward to continuing to work with the community to have the safest, best design for the community.” 

Naylor says their expectation is that safety improvements will help to reduce the opportunity for dangerous driving mistakes. 

“Often, not just here, but often collisions are caused by driver error, but that's one of the reasons that we're developing a permanent safety unit now within the department. This is a new development to review the entire network for safety upgrades and to take the approach that we want to make highways the safest possible knowing that there will be driver errors. So, trying to accommodate ahead of time within design across our highway network. So, this is a new direction that we are moving as a government to make our heavy network as safe as possible.”