A Rosser resident is driving forward with concerns about access to the community, particularly for emergency vehicles.
In December, Bill Corbett phoned 911 when his 85-year-old mother was experiencing stroke symptoms. However, the ambulance had difficulty reaching his property, which is located just south of where Rosser Road meets the Perimeter.
The nearest access roads to his home were closed as part of the provincial project to revamp the Perimeter Highway. Access at Road 64N was closed in 2021, followed by access at Road 63N closure in November 2023.
To access their home from the Perimeter, Corbett and his family now need to use Highway 221 or CentrePort Canada Way.
When he called 911, the rural dispatch put him through to the city dispatch due to his proximity to the city.
“We saw them driving up and down on the Perimeter Highway with their lights on, first going north, then going south, then coming back north, not knowing how to access it,” he said.
“In the end, my wife drove out to the end of the service road at 221, met them and brought them in. In the interim, I got a call back from the dispatch asking if we were close to Prairie Dog Central and I said no, not really.”
After he saw the ambulance driving up and down the Perimeter, he called 911 once again to provide more details about their whereabouts.
“It was a real procedure because I got the rural dispatch and they put me into the city dispatch. They wanted to know our address. Our legal address is Lot 13 and 14, NE 24 11 1E Rosser. I gave them that and asked if that was helpful. They said no,” Corbett said.
“We are basically five minutes from Portage Avenue, but it took almost 45 minutes for them to get here from the initial call. It was a stroke, but we were lucky enough that they got to Health Sciences Centre, got the stroke drug and there were no ill effects. Everything worked out OK, but the next person might not be so lucky.”
Larry Wandowich, CAO of the RM of Rosser, said these closures of median crossings have also created challenges for the local fire department.
“When the multiple median crossings closed on Highway 101, it made it more difficult for the RM of Rosser Fire Department to respond to certain accident scenes on the highway itself,” he said.
“In addition, as our fire fighters are very aware of the closures off Highway 101 affecting routes to rural properties in the vicinity, they have changed their response routes to attend to emergencies. This, in some cases, has added additional response times.”
For residents who need emergency services other than the local fire department, Wandowich said they’ve heard about a few cases where response times were slower due to the closures. The municipality communicates with the provincial govern-ment about these incidents.
“Even before the closures, ambulance and police response times rurally are sometimes hampered by those agencies trying to find certain civic addresses and the appropriate route to get there,” he added.
A provincial government spokesperson said the Perimeter Highway plays a strategic role in the provincial economy by providing Manitoba’s industries with access to inter-provincial and world markets.
“The province’s ultimate goal is to upgrade the North and South Perimeter Highways — PTH 101 and PTH 100 — to a fully access-controlled freeway that supports Manitoba’s international trade hub and serves an urban population that is expected to reach one million in the coming years,” he said.
“Median closures and access removals along Perimeter Highway, including the access at Provincial Trunk Highway 101 with Road 63N and Road 64N, are part of Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure’s strategy to upgrade the Perimeter Highway to freeway status.”
The province’s highest priority is safety, while also balancing the access needs of road users, the spokesperson added.
“Safety improvements on PTH 101 are recommended as a result of the 2018 South Perimeter Safety Review, which focused on addressing the access points and intersections where there is the greatest risk of severe collisions,” he said.
“The study involved an analysis of collision and incident statistics for the Perimeter Highway as a whole but did not include a breakdown at each of the uncontrolled access points.”
Temporary signs are in place to direct people to the appropriate intersections along the Perimeter as changes and upgrades take place.
“Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure has been working co-operatively with the RM of Rosser and first responders to address local concerns — including emergency services — regarding closures along Perimeter Highway,” the spokes-person said.
A Shared Health spokesperson said that the Medical Transportation Coordination Centre (MTCC) — which receives, triages and dispatches all rural medical 911 calls in Manitoba — recently completed a mapping update of its computer-aided dispatch system that includes highway data from the provincial government as well as municipal road data from rural municipalities.
“MTCC and ambulances within each provincial zone are aware of the changes to Perimeter Highway access that occurred last year and MTCC participated in meetings held during the initial consideration of changes to access/egress to/from the highway,” said the spokesperson in an email.
“Occasionally, there are challenges with EMS finding addresses or incidents. In these cases, the dispatch centre would call back and ask for specific instructions to a property.”
Erin Madden, communications officer for the Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service (WFPS), said WFPS responds to emergencies of all types within the Perimeter Highway. They also respond to some incidents on the Perimeter Highway.
“On rare occasions, we will respond to a call for service at the request of other agencies, which provide service outside of our jurisdiction. These may include fires, MVCs (motor vehicle collisions) or medical emergencies. In these circumstances, our responders do their best to find the addresses or locations not in their jurisdictions in a timely manner, using maps and working with dispatchers,” she said.
“On occasion there can be challenges in finding locations within and outside of Winnipeg due to construction, road closures or access changes. Maps used by WFPS responders are updated regularly to help alleviate potential challenges.”
