SILTON, Sask. – Highway 322 is notorious for its potholes and in April the deterioration became so bad, it was shut down to everyone except local traffic. While changes have been made, drivers are arguing they don’t go far enough.
Lee Hodgson, who comes to Silton to visit her grandchildren, called the highway a nightmare: “It was horrendous. It was like a mud puddle. Big heaves, deep down. Your car would bottom out.”
Resident Josh Barwell agreed, “You couldn’t drive more than 40 or 50 down that road because there was just potholes everywhere. The water we’ve been having made it wash away underneath.”
For some, the drive even turned costly. Jeremy Trower lives in Glen Harbour, on the east side of Last Mountain Lake, but works in Regina.
He blames the highway for wrecking his ride. “I had to get a new car because it broke my last one,” Trower said. “The exhaust ripped off. It was pretty crappy.”
According to a poll by CAA Saskatchewan in the spring, Highway 322 was the third worst road in the entire province.
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After months of repair work, the highway is open once again, but the reviews aren’t glowing.
“It’s still a bit of a nightmare,” said Hodgson. “It is better. But we can’t figure out why they asphalted it, then put gravel on it, then oiled it, then graveled it. We’re not sure what’s going on.”
Originally, the government committed to making repairs to the first nine kilometres of Highway 322.
But when Global News drove down the highway over the Thanksgiving long weekend, only four kilometres had been redone. The work appeared to stop at the village of Silton, just shy of the turnoff to Saskatchewan Beach.
In a release, the Ministry of Highways said it used compacted gravel to smooth out an additional 13 kilometres of the highway, on the way to Rowan’s Ravine.
However, residents like Dan Pritchard are skeptical of how long these types of repairs will last.
“I think it’s going to be the same condition in the spring. A lot of big trucks come down here, it’s already starting to get potholes in it and stuff,” said the Shores Acres resident. “But what can you do? The roads, I guess they only have so much money for it.”
The government says it is continuing to look for more long-term solutions with residents.
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