The Local Urban District (LUD) committee of Blumenort is pushing for safety improvements at the Highway 12 and Provincial Road 311 intersection immediately east of the community.

Roger Harder explains there are a couple of concerns there. He says one of the problems is that when you turn north onto Highway 12 from Blumenort, the merge lane is extremely short and does not give motorists much room to get up to highway speed. This problem is magnified when you consider that intersection is located shortly after a bend in the highway for traffic driving from the south.

"It's a little bit challenging for our residents," notes Harder. "They've shared some concerns that people heading north, they come around a curve and then people can't see when they are in that intersection and so there seems to be a bit of congestion in that area."

The second challenge is for motorists coming from the east and hoping to cross Highway 12 and head west into Blumenort.

"I know there's a lot of frustration there from the farming community with tractors and highway tractors maybe hauling grain," adds Harder. "It's very challenging for them to cross the highway to get into Blumenort."

Harder says sometimes these motorists are forced to wait several minutes as they not only have to navigate across a busy highway but then also make sure the intersection is clear.

The Blumenort LUD committee will be reaching out to Manitoba Infrastructure with hopes of seeing some changes. Harder says it would be great to have a long merge lane, similar to the one at Ste. Anne for traffic turning south onto Highway 12. He notes they are looking for a safer, smoother corner, but stresses that intersection does not need traffic lights.

"We want to work with (Manitoba Infrastructure) to maybe improve this intersection in the future," he says.