The Manitoba government has announced that it is investing $150 million to resurface more than 240 kilometres of roadway within the province.

“Our government is committed to improving Manitoba’s transportation infrastructure to ensure the safe and reliable flow of both people and goods,” said Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler. “Investing in our highways supports economic growth and will have a positive impact on the province for years to come.”

Manitoba Infrastructure has identified 10 sections to resurface on the Trans-Canada Highway and Provincial Trunk Highways (PTH) 23 and 59. Resurfacing work will take place on the following sections of highway:

  • the Trans-Canada Highway eastbound lanes from Provincial Road (PR) 257 near Virden to the east junction at Oak Lake (29.5 km);
  • the Trans-Canada Highway eastbound lanes from the east junction of PR 250 to the west junction of PTH 10 near Brandon (22.9 km);
  • the Trans-Canada Highway eastbound lanes from the east junction of PTH 26 near St. François Xavier to Gaol Road near Headingley (six km);
  • the Trans-Canada Highway westbound lanes from Gaol Road to the east junction of PTH 26 (six km);
  • PTH 23 from PTH 59 to PTH 75 near Morris (29 km);
  • PTH 23 from PTH 34 to PTH 5 west of Baldur (39.4 km);
  • PTH 23 from PTH 5 to the west junction of PTH 18 near Ninette (25.3 km);
  • PTH 23 from the west junction of PTH 18 to the south junction of PTH 10 near Minto (26.2 km);
  • PTH 59 from the U.S. Border to PR 403 near St. Malo (40 km); and
  • PTH 59 from PR 403 to PTH 52 (21 km).

Some of the planned projects involve reconstruction, which includes grading or grade widening, removing the existing surface, restoring the road base and resurfacing multi-layered pavement. Work also includes major rehabilitation that involves a multi-layer pavement overlay to restore the pavement surface condition, extend pavement life and increase loading capacity. Other projects will involve single layer pavement overlays to improve pavement surface condition and extend pavement life.

Schuler said the province expects to begin work on some of the roadways this August.

“We have identified areas for reconstruction and major rehabilitation on three key highways in our province,” said Schuler. “We are making upgrades and performing maintenance on the Trans-Canada and highway 59 south, which are important routes for trade and tourism, and repairing damage on portions of highway 23 that occurred during the spring breakup to prevent further closures.”

The road resurfacing funds come from the $500-million Manitoba Restart Program, an economic stimulus package announced in May to help restart Manitoba’s economy and ramp up construction as the province moves forward through the COVID-19 pandemic. The province will announce further projects funded under the Manitoba Restart Program in the coming weeks.