Manitoba government announces next steps for twinning Trans-Canada Highway at Ontario border

The next steps of twinning the Trans-Canada Highway to the Ontario border are underway according to the province.

Premier Heather Stefanson said work began last month – which includes tree clearing and other activities – and the project is expected to be finished in the fall of 2024.

She said it's important Manitobans have a safe highway to drive on.

"That is why we have prioritized this work as it not only serves as a key trade route, but is one of the busiest stretches of highways especially during the summer months for cottagers and travellers," Stefanson said in a news release Friday.

The highway will have four lanes of traffic from Falcon Lake to the Manitoba-Ontario border and the 700 metres leading up to the border will align with Ontario's new four-lane highway.

As part of the announcement Friday, the province also noted a company has been chosen to complete a conceptual design study of the entire 16-kilometre stretch of the highway project.

Tetra Tech Canada Inc. will complete the study. It will look at route alignment options, new or modified interchanges for Provincial Road 301 and Provincial Trunk Highway 44, the potential for eliminating three remain intersections, access requirements to Hunt and Lyons lakes, options for replacing the PR 301 flyover and additional interchange or grade separations.

The province said the study is expected to take two years and will include consultation with Indigenous rights holders, as well with land and business owners, the public and stakeholders.

Aaron Dolyniuk, the executive director of the Manitoba Trucking Association, said the organization welcomes the news from the province.

"This road improvement will have a positive impact on all road users. It will improve road safety not only for Manitoba's trucking companies, but all carriers who operate across Canada, as well as the general public," he said in a news release.

Calls to twin the highway came after a fatal crash in 2019 killed a father and son who were driving home to Dryden, Ont. Following a golf tournament in Selkirk, Man.

In September 2022, the premier confirmed in a letter that the province had committed to twinning the highway.