As part of the provincial government’s new emphasis on fixing roads in small town Saskatchewan, they’ve committed $23.5-million to improve 165 kilometres of rural municipal roads, including 28 bridges and culverts in 51 rural municipalities.

Some local highlights include $20,000 to St. Louis for grading in association with the Clearing the Path (CTP) initiative. It seeks to develop a network of primary weight truck haul routes on municipal roads.

Buckland will receive a grant of $200,000 for bridge work associated with the bridges and culverts component of the program. It provides cost-shared grants to rural municipalities to repair or replace bridges and culverts on municipal roads and cover up to 90 per cent of eligible costs.

The level of cost-sharing depends on factors such as traffic and truck traffic volumes, the condition of the structure and the road’s classification under the Rural Road Classification System.

Other grants include:
- 15 RM’s will receive a total of $7.3-million in grants for 16 Heavy Haul/High Volume Road projects
- 16 RM’s will receive a total of $4.3-million in grants for 16 projects to develop primary weight truck routes through the CTP initiative
- 24 RM’s will receive a total of $4.8-million to replace or repair 28 bridges and culverts

In addition to these projects, 175 RM’s will receive funding to operate and maintain previously built CTP routes.

rhaagen@panow.com