NEW TWINNED SECTION ON HIGHWAY 16 EAST OF SASKATOON

A new eight kilometre stretch of twinning on Highway 16 east of Saskatoon will

be opened to traffic today.



Safety concerns over high traffic volumes on Highway 16 east of Saskatoon

prompted the $9 million twinning project, which will improve traffic flow and

safety in the Saskatoon area.



"This stretch of highway has seen a steady increase in traffic causing serious

congestion as development and growth in this area continues," Highways and

Transportation Minister Maynard Sonntag said. "This twinning project was an

important investment for the safety of people residing in this region."



Paving began on the new lanes of Highway 16 east of the cloverleaf at Highway

11 and extended to approximately one kilometre west of Floral. As well, paving

was completed along associated roadways such as the Patience Lake Mine Road,

sections of Zimmerman Road and on and off ramps at Boychuk Drive. In total,

contract crews completed 14.4 km of paving work at a cost of $6.5 million.



Anderson Rental and Paving Ltd. of Saskatoon provided the surfacing work on

this section and Nemanishen Contracting Ltd. of Langham was the contractor for

the grading which took place in 1999.



The ramps at Boychuk Drive will not be open until the City of Saskatoon

completes construction work at this location. It is anticipated that the ramps

should be opened to traffic by the end of October. In addition, the completion

of the final paving on Highway 16 from the new Patience Lake Mine Road Access

to the east will take place after being opened to traffic.



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For more information, contact:



Allan Widger, Executive Director

Engineering Services

Regina

Phone: (306) 787-4858

(cell) (306) 537-3614