Plans to add passing lanes from Fort Qu'Appelle to Melville given the green light

Four new passing lanes are expected to be added along Highway 10 from Fort Qu’Appelle to Melville in the coming years.

On Friday, dignitaries including Minister of Highways Lori Carr and mayors from both Fort Qu’Appelle and Melville confirmed plans during a press conference.

“This is really exciting as we have all seen all throughout the province, we have been putting passing lanes in. Currently we have approximately 50 sets in across the province and today we announced four more sets of passing lanes,” Carr said on Friday.

Saskatchewan’s first major passing lane project from Balgonie to Fort Qu’Appelle was completed in 2013.

Carr said there have been no fatalities along that stretch of road since the lanes were put in.

“I think this really comes down to safety. It makes the segment of the highways that we are using for our families, whether they are going to work, whether they are taking their kids to sports, maybe just out to the lake for the weekend. They know that the passing lanes are there,” Carr added.

Gus Lagace, the mayor of Fort Qu’Appelle believes the added lanes will help with the flow of traffic within the town.

“Traffic has ebbs and flows, people go both ways. We are kind of smack dab right in the middle of Yorkton and Regina, so some people choose to go to Yorkton.

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They are certainly going to like that. Passing lanes will be a real Godsend,” Lagace said.

Melville Mayor Walter Streelasky echoed that sentiment.

“It’s very important that there are those opportunities to just move over instead of private driveways. The passing lanes, you utilize that and again, safety. Safety [is] paramount to travel,” he said.

The design phase of the new lanes is expected to be completed next year, and tendering will follow, expected by spring of 2025.