Petition gathers 5,600 signatures calling for safety upgrades to Manitoba Highway 6

Daniel Bahuaud is hopeful a new organization will be successful in its push to make safety upgrades to Highway 6.

There was snow falling late in October 2003 when his parents were returning from St. Laurent on Highway 6.

A large northbound truck either lost control or couldn't see Bahuaud's parents' vehicle due to poor visibility and hit them head-on near the turnoff for Highway 244, he said.

"It was a fairly traumatizing event for my family," he said. "It certainly leaves a big mark on one's memory."

About 5,600 people have signed the Safer Highway 6 Citizens Action Group petition asking the province to adopt a series of international road safety improvement standards for Highway 6.

The petition, which group members shared with Manitoba Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk during a meeting Thursday, also includes accounts from people who have been in accidents on the highway.

The Safer Highway 6 Citizens Action Group is made up of people from the north, including Volker Beckmann, who gathered at the legislature Thursday.

Beckmann said routinely when people from the north head south for business, pleasure or medical reasons, they're driving nearly 800 kilometres confronting a problem en route.

"Sometimes in the summer that long drive is OK, a lot of times in the winter it's scary and dangerous," he said.

Beckmann said there have been too many accidents along Highway 6 where people suffered serious injuries or death.

The former NDP MLA for Thompson Danielle Adams was killed in a two-vehicle crash on Highway 6 in December. 

"We have said, not only now but 10 years ago, that the province needs to make some upgrades to that highway so it's safer," Volker said.

Beckmann said the group has offered suggestions to the infrastructure minister, including widening of the highway shoulders and adding more rest stops along the way between Ashern and Thompson.

"Overall the dangerous condition is because the semi-trailer traffic has increased so much," said Beckmann. "The only way to overcome that is to do what other countries … have done, [which] is passing lanes."

Beckmann cited several countries including Sweden and Ireland that he says have developed a 2+1 road lane system. The design may entail highways with two lanes going one direction that allow for passing, and one lane going the other direction. Beckmann said this 2+1 division alternates from side to side and opposing lanes are separated by a cable or barrier median.

Bahuaud said he too feels there should be a boundary separating the highway lanes where his mother died.

"Twinning is an expensive proposition but I don't think it's something that should be discarded and should be thought about in the long run," he said.

Brenda Redman, a volunteer with the group, has lived in Thompson since 1961 and recently moved to Winnipeg for retirement, but she still travels to her cabin in Paint Lake in the north.

Redman said she believes the group's message was heard during a meeting with the minister and others Thursday.

"They have indicated to us that there will be things happening up north," said Redman.

Beckmann said the minister discussed details of a 10-year provincial highways plan during the meeting and said he plans to visit in June. 

"Which is wonderful, and we're saying you know what what you need to do is drive up in the winter time with your family, that's the only way you experience what we do," he said. "The accidents will still happen until things change."