Rough highway needs repair, says Westman reeve

The Rural Municipality of Ellice-Archie reeve is hoping for substantial work on a highway that is reportedly dangerous for drivers.

The portion of Highway 41 connecting Binscarth to St. Lazare, and running from PR 571 to Manson is in particularly terrible condition, Reeve Barry Lowe said in a recent interview. Drivers are pushed to swerve and slow down to avoid wrecking their vehicles because potholes and broken pavement mark the road.

“You drive all over the road. You’ve never seen anything like it,” Lowe said. “You go this way, you go that way, its just like dodging ducks that are sitting there. It’s an experience.”

The condition of the road took a downturn 15 years ago when flooding marked the region, and has since devolved without much repair, he said. Due to the nature of how the road is in its current state, the potholes have become a danger to the public, he said.

“There’s lots of them that you dodge, you go around them, you go into the other lane to get around them,” he said. “When you got to go in the other lane to get around a pothole that you don’t want to drive through with your car or your truck, that’s danger.”

Some spots are bad enough that the effective speed limit changes, he added.

“There’s one spot that goes right across the road, like full width of the pavement. And if you don’t slow down to about 40 on it there, you could break your car or your truck.”

Lowe said that he hopes the Manitoba government will add a resurfacing project to it’s five-year capital plan for transportation infrastructure, because he believes the road requires a major repair.

“I dont think anybody should have to drive on a highway where you gotta dodge potholes continually.”

Keigan Buckley, spokesperson for Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Lisa Naylor, said the department monitors roads and prioritizes repairs around urgent safety concerns such as large cracks and potholes. Resultingly, about $500,000 worth of work is planned in the comming weeks to take place on the highway.

“We recognize the importance of PTH 41 for the local residents and businesses and expect work to be completed towards the end of September or early October 2026,” Buckley said in an email to the Sun. “Road safety is a top priority for our government which is why we are currently conducting repairs on areas of immediate concern between PTH 1 and PTH 16 near Binscarth with more comprehensive repairs planned in the coming weeks.”

The provincial government’s multi-year infrastructure investment strategy includes three projects in the area at an estimated cost of $19.43 million between 2025 and 2030.

The project list includes structure rehabilitation on the highway near the Qu’Appelle River in the vicinity of St. Lazare at a cost of $3.5 million. The project was planned to take place during 2025/2026.

Between 2026 and 2030, the provincial government also plans to conduct surface preservation in the same area, a stretch of highway of about 9.1 kilometres between PR 545 and PTH 42. The project is estimated to cost $8.43M; and the provincial government also plans to conduct $7.5 million worth of structure rehabilitation of the highway at the Assiniboine River, west of St. Lazare between 2026 and 2030.

Crews were filling potholes last week when the Sun spoke with Lowe. He said he believes a significant investment would be needed to salvage the road.

“Every highway’s going to have potholes, but…” he said. “There’s sections that it needs to be resurfaced, really, if it’s going to have a chance to stay there for another 40 years.”

Lowe noted that the highway took a downturn starting in 2011 when it was impacted by flooding. At the time, the province allowed large vehicles to use the road to workaround flooding on side roads, he said. That adjustment was very useful for the community and appreciated, however it has led to more wear and tear on the road and that has piled up through time, he said.

He believes paint on the road — outlining broken pavement and the like — has been put down by locals to help drivers avoid holes.

The highway near the border with Saskatchewan did not appear on the CAA Worst Roads campaign of 2026.

» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com