The Province of Saskatchewan has the highest number of public roads per capita in Canada. In total there are approximately 198,700 kilometres, with approximately 80% or 160,000 kilometres consisting of low volume roads. These roads primarily service the agricultural industry and rural Saskatchewan. The road network is managed at both provincial and municipal levels of government. Over the past several years, Saskatchewan Highways and Transportation and various Rural Municipalities have entered into haul route management partnerships involving their respective roads. The primary objectives of these agreements are to maximise the level of service on various low volume thin membrane surface highways and municipal grid roads. These agreements are put in place to optimise weight management and user safety, while minimising overall preservation and maintenance costs. Over the past three or four decades Saskatchewan Highways and Transportation constructed approximately 8,600 km of thin membrane surface highways. Under minimal truck traffic, thin membrane surface roads were found to be very cost-effective and relatively easy to maintain. Grain transportation rationalisation, economic diversification and value-added initiatives in Saskatchewan have and will continue to increase pressures on many of Saskatchewan's low volume roads. Increases in commercial truck traffic hold significant and often immediate negative implications for these roads. Thin membrane surface roads were not designed to accommodate the number of heavily loaded commercial trucks they are now experiencing. As a result this increase in commercial truck traffic has translated into increased and accelerated damage to the low volume thin membrane surface road network. In Saskatchewan, there are opportunities for Saskatchewan Highways and Transportation and the Rural Municipalities to work together to implement haul route management agreements to preserve sections of low volume thin membrane surface highways. Agreements normally involve weight restrictions on vulnerable thin membrane surface roads, designating haul routes on municipal roads, and other initiatives to maximise the level of service, given limited resources. This paper outlines the principles and objectives currently being implemented in Saskatchewan utilising municipal haul route management agreements. Several existing examples will be presented to give an overview of the partnership components and also describe some of the advantages and disadvantages of implementing these types of agreements. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting