The provincial Ministry of Highways is reviving and stepping up efforts to encourage people to slow down in highway construction zones.
At an event in Regina, Highways Minister David Marit announced a new weekly Orange Zone construction update is being launched.
The plan is to release the update each Friday at 10 a.m., to provide motorists the most up-to-date information on Saskatchewan highway construction and any changes to expect.
Marit has been on his summer road tour of the province and he said that access to more information about construction is something he was hearing. He indicated his announcement Friday was in response to that feedback.
Previously, the province made efforts to inform the public about Orange Zones following a fatal highway accident involving a worker in the construction zone in 2012. But recently those had faded.
“So it’s really an awareness we wanted to bring back,” said Marit. “It’s something we had years ago, and we just want to bring it back as a public good and a public safety issue and just bring this to the driving public that they have access to find out where those construction zones are and what is going on.”
The intention is to do the Orange Zone update on a weekly basis while the construction season is on, and for the public to access that information through the Highways app or through the Highway Hotline to see where the construction zones are. Information can be found at the link saskatchewan.ca/orange-zone.
Marit said this will allow the driving public to “see if you’re going somewhere, if it’s going to put some delay into your time frame and things like that.”
Shantel Lipp, President of the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association, said having this information available will also allow heavy-haul truckers to plan their routes and perhaps find an alternative route if necessary.
“So having the app available and having people be able to be constantly updated, checking on the status of the work, where it’s going on, I think is going to be extremely helpful, not just for the travelling public, but for the trucking community as well.”
Lipp pointed out that construction zones are active and complex environments even though they may not look like it, with workers, equipment and machinery often operating just feet away from live traffic. She pointed to other risks such as sudden lane shifts, soft shoulders or heavy equipment moving in and out.
She is urging motorists to slow down, to not weave in and out of lanes, to not ignore flaggers or signs, and stay off the phone in a work zone. Lipp also notes it is only a short delay on a highway trip.
“I know when you’re in the car it probably feels like you’ve been detained for hours and hours on end, but we’ve actually mapped out one of our longest construction zones and kind of detailed exactly what kind of a time delay the drivers experience, and we’re talking about a 20-kilometre zone, and it’s three to six minutes.
“So I think that the public really needs to understand that you’re not being detained as long as you actually think you are. It’s a very short amount of time, so just exercise some patience and caution.”
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