BRANDON — This city’s 18th Street, a portion of Highway 10 that connects Flin Flon to the U.S. border, has been named the worst road in Manitoba.
CAA Manitoba released its annual list of the province’s worst arteries, which is based votes cast by its members.
The pothole-ridden north-south corridor ranked second in last year’s race.
Brandon’s 18th Street, undergoing some repaving, has been voted as CAA’s Worst Road in Manitoba.
“It’s ridiculous,” Baker said. “You either hold your breath and you go over a hole or swerve to avoid hitting one. But that doesn’t always work either because there’s more over there. How is this allowed to happen?” asked resident Steve Baker, who drives on 18th every day.
Dr. Tra Sin agreed that 18th Street is in poor condition. The optometrist recently moved to Brandon from The Pas and said the roads were better in the northern community.
“I have my route planned and I know which holes I need to go around. Sometimes I go into the other lane and that’s not good. I can’t believe how much better the roads are in The Pas and even in Winkler,” said Sin.
Seventy-one of Manitoba’s 137 municipalities participated in the CAA campaign. The votes were based on factors like potholes, lack of sidewalks or bike paths, congestion and traffic lights being out of sync.
Ewald Friesen, CAA Manitoba’s manager of government and community relations, says 18th won hands-down.
“There’s a lot of discontent coming out of Brandon for this one,” Friesen said. “Eighteenth Street was in our top 10 list in 2022 and has actually been climbing over the years to second place in 2023, to this year, when it took the No. 1 spot.”
Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett said he’s not surprised.
“It’s been pointed out that it’s the worst, and would be where my vote would go,” Fawcett said. “We’re all well aware of 18th Street and everybody openly realizes this is the worst spring we’ve ever had for potholes. Staff who’ve been filling the potholes with the city for decades and decades will tell you that.
“We’re working with the province on it,” he said.
The responsibility for repairs falls to the Manitoba government because it’s part of Highway 10.
Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor confirmed the NDP government will honour the former Tory government’s promise to repave 18th Street.
“Eighteenth Street was on the schedule to be done a bit later, in a couple of years’ time, but it’s very obvious from recent observations and reports that infrastructure does need to be fixed sooner rather than later,” Naylor said.
“The agreement we made with mayor and council that they needed to complete the sewer work under the street before we do the resurfacing of that road.”
The agreement extends to preliminary work such as replacing water mains and sewers at several locations along 18th Street.
The City of Brandon this month issued a tender for the work.
Leila Avenue in Winnipeg came in second place and Highway 307 in Whiteshell Provincial Park was in third spot.
Along with naming the worst roads in the province, CAA Manitoba also released statistics about driver “discontent,” which Friesen said has increased due to the “state of our roads.”
Fifty-four per cent of Manitobans have encountered vehicle damage because of poor roads, Friesen said, and 70 per cent of those people paid out of pocket rather than making a claim with Manitoba Public Insurance.
“As a matter of fact, only 16 per cent filed a claim with MPI, for various reasons, possibly just to get their cars back on the road,” said Friesen, adding the out-of-pocket cost for Manitobans has reached an average of $962 per claim.
“Our campaign is not about shaming and blaming, it’s to get a snapshot of where this frustration is,” he said. “(We) take this in our government relations efforts, and we bring it to the people who can make a decision about the state of our roads.”
Ongoing infrastructure projects, including Brandon’s 18th Street, are included in the $500-million capital budget, Naylor said.
— Brandon Sun