An area resident is hoping to pressure the province to do something more to fix up a key section of highway in the region.
Glen Krushel has been trying to lobby Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure officials to properly reconstruct PR 432 that runs from Morden north to Highway 23 at the Rosebank corner.
“Local residents know that this road is unsafe. However people traveling from outside this area may take the road unwittingly,” Krushel noted. “Hitting one of these potholes at highway speed could cause one to lose control.
“Will it take a fatality to take the ill condition of PR 432 seriously? Does Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure consider the type of road condition and potholes safe for Manitoba drivers?”
The road has been in need of reconstruction for a long time already, maintains Krushel, who noted the province keeps patching and filling myriad potholes and ruts but not ever properly repairing the road as a whole.
“I watched their guys doing it,” he said. “They just shovel a bunch of asphalt into the hole, and they don’t tamp it down; they don’t roller it … they expect when the cars go over it that it’s going to be sufficient.
“I have a feeling that’s it’s always just going to be the same old rhetoric,” he said of his inquiries with Manitoba Highways. “You might as well just go to the bank and keep throwing money in the holes.”
Krushel suggested this is one of the busiest secondary roads in this area of southern Manitoba.
“It’s a link not only between Miami and Morden—it’s a link between the entire RM of Thompson and Lorne and parts of Dufferin,” he said.
“There’s the argument if you’re looking for a smooth road, why don’t you just go the extra distance to Highway 3? Well, that adds 40 km to the trip,” he noted. “And this is at a time when our fuel prices are higher, and we are being encouraged by government to drive less, so that doesn’t really make sense.
“That road also serves all of the farmers along that stretch … including several Hutterite colonies,” he added.
The fact that this section of highway is in perhaps the fastest growing area of the province in itself demands that the area roads need to be substantially improved to support that growth, Krushel said.
He acknowledges road conditions are an increasing problem across the province, and noted how it is pointed out every year when CAA does the list of top ten worst roads in Manitoba.
“I send in as many entries as I can for 432,” he said. “It just seems like we are getting the short end of the stick.”
A representative for the province was contacted for comment but could not be reached by press time.
Krushel shared an earlier response he received from a provincial representative on the matter, which notes Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure is aware of the road’s condition.
“The section of PR 432 between 1.3 km north of PTH 3 to PTH 23 is being considered for inclusion in future capital programs for its reconstruction,” the representative said. “In the meantime, MTI maintenance staff will continue to perform repairs of the pavement surface, edges, and shoulders as and when required.
“South section of PR 432 between PTH 3 and six miles south of PTH 3, no work is planned yet but will be considered to include in future capital programs for its rehabilitation. In the meantime, MTI maintenance will complete patching work … the total project cost will be $300,000 and in 2026 maintenance will again be completing patch/paving work to enhance the road condition.”
