What has seen myriad changes over the past few decades, how-ever,
is the equipment used for grading and paving, the design plans
from engineers as well as quality and safety standards.
More than one voice is heard before any major infrastructure
projects are started. The extent to which government consults with
stakeholders like SARM, SUMA, industry leaders and impacted
communities to determine the priorities for infrastructure invest-ment
has evolved exponentially.
But making everyone happy with decisions made isn’t always
achieved.
“It’s a challenge when it comes to managing expectations and set-ting
priorities,” said Wakabayashi. “It’s relatively cheap and relative-ly
easy to build roads in Saskatchewan. However, public funds aren’t
unlimited. Regardless of the state of the economy or provincial fi-nances,
you can’t build everything everywhere all at once.”
Further advancements in technology will take highway infra-structure
to new levels in the future. A prime example is the di-verging
diamond interchange – a relatively new concept within the
Regina Bypass project, a design that didn’t exist 20 years ago.
The Regina Bypass is the largest transportation infrastructure
project in Saskatchewan history. It includes innovative designs like
a three-systems interchange, which will allow traffic to move from
one highway to another while maintaining highway speed.
It’s also a project the Ministry of Highways is particularly proud
of. Its completion date is pegged in mid-2019.
“Designs and technology continues to evolve in roadbuilding,”
said Wakabayashi. “We can probably expect to see advances in ma-terials
and we can certainly expect to see advances in how the infra-structure
is designed and how it’s built.”
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FEATURE
1965
Canada’s roadbuilders completed the Trans-Canada
Highway, the longest national highway in the world with
7,821 kilometres.
1966
Saskatchewan Roadbuilders Association became known as
the Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association of
Saskatchewan (RBHCA).
1968–69
Road builders began work on the new 24,000-kilometre
farm access roads project.
1969
By the end of the year, one-third of all roads in Canada
were located in Saskatchewan.
1977
The province’s first metric highway construction contract
was awarded to Sanderson Construction Ltd.
1983
Department of Highways began transferring road
construction projects from the public to the private sector.
thinkbigmagazine.ca | Quarter 4 2017 | Think BIG 37