Construction to begin Tuesday on Highway 8 North to Rocanville
July 21, 2025, 2:20 pm
Joey Light
A major highway improvement project is set to begin this week as resurfacing will take place on Highway 8 between Moosomin and Rocanville.
The project will include 24.07 km of asphalt concrete resurfacing on Highway 8 from the junction of Highway 8 and Highway 1 at Moosomin to 24.07 km north of that junction.
Work is scheduled to start this Tuesday, July 22 and is expected to be completed, weather permitting, by October 17.
Traffic will be slowed to 60 km/h and down to a single lane in the construction zone with the contractor utilizing flaggers to control traffic flow within the limits of the working area during paving operations. Hours of operation will be during daylight hours.
The contractor for this project is Langenburg Redi-Mix Ltd. while the contract supervision will be provided by Cluine Consulting Engineers Ltd. Personnel.
The estimated total cost of this project is $12.7 million, including materials, construction engineering, and PST.
Highways prioritized
“The highways ministry goes through a process based on traffic counts and the condition of the highway and try to prioritize highways across Saskatchewan basically where there is the most traffic and the most need,” said Moosomin-Montmartre MLA Kevin Weedmark.
“Every year the department goes through and ranks all the highways in the province, MLA’s have some input into thatt providing input from the people locally if we are hearing this or that one is a priority and based on all that input the highways department comes up with a list for that year, of course there are always a lot of highways that need to be fixed and there’s a limited budget but I’m glad we’re able to get Highway 8 fixed up this year because I think its an important local priority.”
How are paving projects prioritized across the province?
“Basically the department takes a look right across the province, you get the local input through the MLAs and what they are hearing and you take the traffic counts, the conditions of the highway, and the highways that are in the worst condition and have the most traffic on them and are a local priority those are the ones that get done.
“In our riding this year we are seeing some work done on Highway 1 just west of Moosomin, a section will be repaved between Grenfell and Broadview, and of course this very important piece of Highway 8 that has been a priority for a couple years, it’s good to see it getting done.”
Weedmark said the provincial government is spending a significant amount on highways across the province.
“The highways budget this year is $777 million. With this year’s budget, the Government of Saskatchewan has invested more than $13.8 billion in transportation infrastructure since 2008, improving more than 21,800 kilometres of highways across the province.
“This year the highways department will improve more than 1,000 kilometres of provincial highways, the sixth year of our 10-year Growth Plan goal to build and upgrade 10,000 kilometres of highways.
“The budget this year just for capital projects is I believe $421 million. We are spending a lot on highway construction and it’s a priority for our government to have safe highways across the province for people to travel on—we know how important that is, in rural areas especially.”
Weedmark said highway contracts are awarded through a competitive bidding process.
“Whenever there is a project its basically put out to tender and it’s a competitive bid process so that we get the most value for taxpayers so when a project goes up for tender, whichever qualified bidder can do it at the least cost of the taxpayers will get the job.”
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