Manitoba planning new interchange for South Perimeter

The Manitoba government will build a new interchange on the South Perimeter Highway.

The province will start construction on the interchange at Highway 100 and St. Mary's Road in 2021, Manitoba Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler announced on Monday.

The intersection is presently controlled by traffic lights.

The decision to build an interchange advances the government's push to turn the South Perimeter into a six-lane freeway to improve safety.

"This is the beginning of a new South Perimeter Highway, and we would like to eventually see the entire Perimeter becoming a limited access" highway, Schuler said at the announcement.

The province is covering the tab through a $500-million fund the government recently announced to ramp up construction in a pandemic-battered economy.

Of that pool of money, $65 million will be spent on major highway projects, including the new interchange. 

"We wanted to identify this as one of the projects where we're going to start moving Manitobans back into the workforce," Schuler said.

The crossing will improve traffic flow on a highway used by an average of 30,000 vehicles a day, Schuler said. The area also has a high number of vehicle collisions, he said.  

The government is developing a design plan for the highway, which will support building interchanges and overpasses to keep traffic moving, he said. The report is expected to be completed this summer.

"Eventually all mud roads and all access points, except those by bridges or signalled intersections, will be removed off the Perimeter," Schuler said.

In time, roadways that once crossed the South Perimeter will be diverted onto interchanges and overpasses, while Highway 100 will be moved above railways.