Rattling over the 10 miles of gravel road north of the Port of Oungre/Fortuna euphamistically identified as "Hwy 35", it occurred to me that the Americans are spending a lot of money on fence construction when the more efficient solution might be to hire Lorne Calvert to run the state of Texas.
After all, this is the government that is successfully digging a moat around Saskatchewan, one pothole at a time.
By way of comparison: provincial highway construction in Saskatchewan. (Taken at 4:55 pm on a Wednesday afternoon. Note absence of highway workers)...
And photos of state highway construction in North Dakota, taken the following day...
You can see the problem here.
If they had the foresight to replace the pavement north of the US-Mexico border with the type of road construction we have in Saskatchewan, there'd be no need for a border fence. Illegals would be quickly convinced they were crossing from one third world country into another, and they'd just turn around on their own.
Please Kate, keep him there. Our roads are just fine thank you. We do not need any social engineering either. We do that in Huntsville, cleaning up the human gene pool.
Could it be that they are leaving the roads North of the 49th in such a sad state to slow our egress into the US? Chuckles at the US Custom's Counter in the Minneapolis airport always laughs when I say "Buenos Dias, eh?" while handing him my passport. "Yeah, just another snow back flying in for a couple weeks". Stamp! and 'NEXT!'.
(Taken at 4:55 pm on a Wednesday afternoon. Note absence of highway workers)...
Do you hang around work after your workday is over? The work hours in the construction industry are typically 7:30am - 4:00pm.
"The work hours in the construction industry are typically 7:30am - 4:00pm."
You must live in Quebec. Everywhere else in the world construction takes place during daylight hours. Are you going to argue that it's not daylight in the photos?
Back a few yeare ago the fish and wildlife service were calling for the speed limit on one hiway be reduced to 10 mph to have a endadred bug how stupid can they get?
Hey Bob Mc
In Alberta our work day is dawn to dusk
Actually, if you spend any time at all driving in the US, you'll discover highway construction workers at work any time of the day or night.
I was held up by a flagman on Hwy 212 for a half hour near Belle Fourche, SD. when I was through there in September - at around 11 pm.
I met that Osama-bin guy on that road shown on top! He was handing out NDP illiterature.
I met that Osama-bin guy on that road shown on top! He was handing out NDP illiterature.
"successfully building a moat around Saskatchewan" one pothole at a time." LOL!
Why'd the chicken swim acroos the road? He came to the Saskatchewan border.
Are these construction workers unionized? In Sask. you'd think they'de be used to making hay...
City of Edmonton pays cash incentives to contractors to finish projects ahead of time or penalties if not.
Is that a photo of Lorne Calvert or is that Willie Loman from Death of a Salesman? Hopefully that road will be repaired by the time I go back to visit my parents!
Actually robert, in the big cities that have more than one lane the serious highway construction is done at night and on weekends so as to cause minimal delays at rush hour. Oh, and they work in the winter here too.
A moat around Saskatechwan one pothole at a time. LOL+ Oh, Kate that is good!
I do a lot of x-continent riding and am always amazed at the difference between US and Canadian roads and the seemingly much more professional road construction operations. Actually, this summer on the return flight, crossing Iowa and Nebrasca, I was also flabberghasted by the quality of the "rest" stops. In Iowa I came across one of such exceptional architectural-decorational quality I almost went out to the bike to get my camera, but decided not to thinking it would look way weird. Oh, one had wireless internet -- no really! In the BC interior recently, the 40s era outhouses were CLOSED. Peetime is the summertime evidently. .
If you guys in Saskatchewan came through your eastern neighbour here, you'll discover what bad roads are really all about.
But never fear, with an election coming in '07 our leader, Gary Doer has suddenly discovered roads. If the new cash infusions for roads have the same beneficial impact as the famous "ending hallway medicine" objective, well, it might just be time to bring back the horse and buggy to assure safe transportation.
when I drive east , which is not to often, I divert south to the I roads. The loop north of Superior you could loose your cookies driving or rattle out your teeth. its the original 1963 highway. plus you save on fuel costs looping the yank way and you can stay in motels that are not rustic. Its third world thru there too, not just Sask.
Yeah, I couldn't believe the condition of that highway when I returned from South Dakota this past summer. I thought something called the CanAm Highway would be built to better standards than this. What an embarasment to think this is the first impression of American visitors to Canada.
And, yes, road construction does go on day and night in the States. Even on a secondary highway in Wyoming, bridge repair was going on at 10:30 at night.
It was nice to be back on Alberta highways after that driving through Saskatchewan. When are they going to get that Yellowhead twinning project done? It seems that it's been going on forever. I guess there just isn't money for infrastructure after wasting it all on social programs.
North of Superior Hwy 17 between Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie is truly becoming third world. If travelling by motorcycle, gas up at every opportunity, as there are few gas stops / motels.
The softwood lumber industry (sawmills, papermills) is dying, taking lots of jobs with it.
In constrast, Sask highway workers fill up all the local motels Whitewood east!
speaking of fences, I had the occassion to rebuild some fencing and politely enquired witht he new back fence neighbor if he would mind me taking the rickety old one down and putting up new cedar with trellis matching the entire rest of my place.
nyet came the replay.
but if I take this ugly broken dilapitated thing down neighbor, I can get at the back of my shed and put the new siding on that I have right here instead of the ugly black shingles.
nyet came the reply.
sigh.
so I moved the post hole digger over about a foot and put the new fence entirely on my side of the property line. it wound up a tad out of alignment, very noticable from his viewpoint sideways. but not at all from mine straight on.
and now hes looking at a completely mismatched set up, exactly what he based his objections on in the first place.
tsk bloody tsk.
There is little that we agree on, but I think one element that most people will be able to agree about is the new announcement in the throne speech today. The announcement was that for the first time, all gas tax money collected in the province will go directly to roads. I don't know what that fiscally means but it makes sense that gas tax would go to fixing roads.
Maybe all the polly tichens only fly , surely the MP from Wawa someone would notice.
Is he a lib to busy paving his pockets?
Having driven from Red Deer-Kindersley once upon a time (ie. not on the Trans-Can or the Yellerhead), I can relate to this. Crossing the AB/Sask border was like some sort of time-portal into the past, where roads were never in excellent condition.
People say Saskatchewan is flat, and I immediately correct them. There are some massive hills in Saskatchewan. They are called the ruts in the road.
On the drive last weekend, I remarked to my Dad that the portion of the highway they were ripping up and rebuilding in North Dakota was in better condition than that we'd driven over in Saskatchewan after it had been repaired.
This summer on our way from Oklahome to Moose Jaw we happened to travel through North Dakota and South Dakota. Both of whom use the unique way of road repair shown above.
One is travelling a developed highway, one of the major North-South routes, when with scant notice said major highway changes from paved two lane to unpaved road. For miles...and miles...and miles.
I'm not sure I see the difference.
The motto of a school my mother went to--"Go well the road"--takes on new meaning, Kate, having seen the photos and read the commentary here...
What road?
"Do you hang around work after your workday is over? The work hours in the construction industry are typically 7:30am - 4:00pm."
I don't think your talking about heavy construction when the best conditions to work are when its dry ,around here (Ont) thats from the end of April until(in a good year)the end of October you would be way more factual saying work starts when its light enough to see until around 7 o'clock at night, as mud and frost slow down progress and soak up the profits.
Though the township and county crews here start around 7 30 and are done at 4'oclock.
Your not going to fix a road with a bad base with a loader and a grader.You have to start from scratch from the bottom up like it seems the American's are doing.
Robert McLelland:
"The work hours in the construction industry are typically 7:30am - 4:00pm."
Nonsense. I worked construction in my younger years and we worked 60 hours a week--four 13 hour days and 8 hours on Friday--shortening a bit in October when it got darker earlier.
I wouldn't go that far - I've driven on some very bad roads in the States thru Michigan (Detroit-Chicago), Ohio(Cleveland-Cinncinnati), and Iowa(Quad Cities-Des Moines).
That being said - I think the condition of the roads in the prairies is a MAJOR cause of western alienation as the feds contribute nothing out there to improving them - even though stuff like the Trans-Canada is a FEDERAL responsibility.
Am planning to drive out west to see some family over Christmas so I'll get to see firsthand the condition of roads in northern Ont., Sask and Man.
Don't mind Bob McClelland - he actually believes that Conservative tax cuts caused the Quebec highway to collapse last month.
Oh, I'm from the east by the way and the roads are not bad in my experience here...thanks to federal largesse.
Me No Dhimmi, did you stop at the Iowa-80? It's Incredible - you can see it from space!
I'm always happy to praise Texas, but I will let you in on a very carefully controlled secret down here.
We do have very fine roads for the most part (it varies somewhat from state to state). And the best time to see robust road construction is a couple of months before elections.
In fact, our politicians are so eager to demonstrate their virtue and desire to serve us that they think nothing of ripping out a perfectly good road to install another one. This particularly happens in places where there is a lot of traffic.
In the town we recently moved from, politicians regularly tore up the road to the post office every time it came time to demonstrate to the voters how much they were doing for us.
It is also true that appropriations for roads is one of the most eggregious ways that politicians bring home the bacon. Sometimes you can be on a raod that probably gets two or three cars a year, that is in such flawless condition, you know that someone is in some wonderful (or something) relationship with the politician.
Finally, I will say that it often occurs that after a politician has wrangled pork back to the state, ripped out a perfectly usable road, put in a flawless spectacle, that their handiwork is so pleasing to them, that they name the road after themselves.
Of course it is true that this does lead to a lot of well kept roads.
"The work hours in the construction industry are typically 7:30am - 4:00pm."
Rob't McClelland
Robert is a NDPer. Robert is a doctrinaire NDPer.
Robert is a Loony Leftie. Robert is a socialist Loony Lefty.
What he meant was "Work hours in the construction industry of the Saskatchewan Worker's Utopia are typically 7:30am - 4:00pm".
And oh, yes .... read his blog - particularly the part where he says "F*ck the Jews". Really a nice guy.
quit at 4? ha !!
I continue to do contruction 10 hour days regularly. some jobs dont have decent lighting yet so you use whatever daylight there is and then make up for delays when the electricians string the temp fixtures.
4 p.m. pshaw.
I worked roads near 30 years ago now. there were two shifts in the summer . one started at about 6am went to about 2 , the other at 2 and ended near 10. Some worked both shifts.
of course this is Alberta and someone has to pick up the slack for the rest of the duff sitters in the country.
3w.cbc.ca/money/story/2000/05/16/workstress000516.html
Yes, i came up that road from the south last january. Nice highway all the way, Drove in the south door of the canadian customs garrage, had a chat with the guard, he opened the north door and i sware, i thought i was entering a war zone. There wasn't a smooth foot of pavement anywhere between that shack and weyburn! Never again!
Red Herring Alert:
The inference here is that unionized provincial workers and their NDP masters are at fault for the state of the highways in Sask. Too bad the equipment in the pictures is so far away that you can't tell who it belongs to.
Besides, there could be many valid reasons for not working at 4:55 pm. If it bothers you so much, why not phone the party involved?
And guess what? Many projects are tendered to private firms: (3w.highways.gov.sk.ca/docs/FrontPageElements/contructionlist_06.pdf)
Unhappy with the poor quality of some roads? Perhaps these are the "thin membrane surface" roads. (3w.highways.gov.sk.ca/docs/Front_page_info/FAQ.asp) 7500 km of these roads in Sask. Don't expect them to be fixed overnight. Moreover, comparisons to the US are absurd because of differences in population sizes and funding.
lberia, thanks for correcting us with information from the Sask Gov't - Highways website. What were we thinking?
Robert and lberia: okay, fair, if in your socialistic world the work day ends at 4 PM, that's fine. Here in the west we actually work for a living.
But what about this: 5 years ago, in the summer of 2001, I crossed at the Port of Oungre. The road was **back then** how it's described by Kate and by many others here. And it continues like that right up to where it meets the Yellowhead near Elfros (approximately the same latitude as Saskatoon). So EVEN IF the work day ends at 4, how can you justify no work being done on the "Can-Am highway" and the road being in such disrepair for at least 5 years? For shame, Calvert.
Iberia - I linked to the Sask Highways report for a reason. Go read it.
You might also check population figures for North and South Dakota, as well.
Can we get Rick Mercer to drive a Prius on some of these roads?
Better yet - get Lorne Calvert to drive his car over that road. ;)
Actually, I am surprised that someone hasn't posted signs saying "Military Vehicle Proving Grounds - Enter at Your Own Risk" on many of Sask's roads.
On the bright side though, these roads are dandy for the gung-ho 4-wheeler Hummer fanatics.
Kate:
What's your point? A couple of pictures of equipment not working in Sask, a couple of pictures of equipment working in the US, and a link to a road advisory. Your conclusion is that it's the union workers/NDP's fault.
Is that government equipment in the picture? Is it a union firm? Did you ask to find out why they're not working? Did you compare current and/or historical sources and amounts of funding for highway maintenance (province vs. state)? Etc.
I guess it's just easier to blame the unions or NDP.
Iberia
Let's see Manitoba spends 104% of gas tax revenue on highways, Alberta 300% of gas tax revenue, Saskatchewan 62% of same. Whose fault is it?
I guess it's just easier to blame the unions or NDP.
I'll let you in on a little secret. In every county, city, province, state, country, company, etc it is easy to blame those who are in charge of management for non-management / mismanagement ... doesn't matter what party.
NDP just happens to have a "drunken sailor" management style.
Don't know about fencing in Saskatchewan but it would be nice to fence his reverence Ralphy Goodale in somewhere out there.
A buffalo drop might make more sense...