Washed away Northern Sask. highway causes cancellations for resort
A resort in Northern Saskatchewan is dealing with visitors cancelling their stays due to a washed out highway.
A large part of Highway 903 was washed out due to heavy rainfall on July 31.
Marianne Breault, the owner of Canoe Lake West Resort, said the washout has cost her business.
"We've had a lot of cancellations because the people don't want to go that extra mileage through bad roads," Breault said.
The highway is North of Meadow Lake and is the main route to Canoe Lake and the surrounding areas, including many Indigenous communities.
Breault said people were able to travel right from Meadow Lake to her resort, but now people have to travel to Green Lake first, then to Beauval and then to Canoe Lake. Doing this adds about an hour and a half of travel time.
Plans to fix the road will take time
"I want to see a bypass built. It's been two weeks now but nothing has happened. Even a bypass built would get us through," Breault said. "I just want it to get fixed."
Doug Wakabayashi, the executive director of communications for the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure, said there are plans to fix the road but it doesn't involve a bridge.
"We do understand the importance of this road to residents in the area and the inconvenience it causes when it's not open to traffic," Wakabayashi said. "We will be replacing the old culvert with four very large diameter culverts."
Construction is expected to start in mid-September but repair will take some time, he said.
"We have some environmental concerns that we have to accommodate, as well. For example, protecting fish habitats," Wakabayashi said, "As a part of protecting the fish habitats, we have to maintain a rather low flow rate."
Breault said something very similar happened to Highway 965 last spring, but she says the province's response time was much quicker.
"In two days they had a construction group and an engineer there and they built a bypass," Breault said.
