Progressive Conservative MLA for Morris Mavis Taillieu is again calling on the NDP government to move quickly to twin a dangerous stretch of the Trans Canada Highway in Headingley.

“The federal government obviously realizes the importance of this project, having singled it out in their recent budget documents,” Taillieu said. “This recognition is certainly appreciated. It is now time for the provincial government to give this project the same high priority and to get shovels in the ground this construction season.”

The six-kilometre stretch of Trans Canada Highway in Headingley is an extremely busy, averaging 18,000 vehicles daily. It is also one of the few remaining stretches of undivided highway in Manitoba, and it has seen more than 100 accidents in recent years, some of them fatal.

In the fall of 2007, Taillieu called on Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation Ron Lemieux to make the dangerous stretch an urgent construction priority in 2008. Yet no action was taken and Taillieu is again urging the NDP to make this project a priority. 

“People have needlessly died on this highway,” Taillieu said. “The NDP government should have moved forward on the twinning in 2008, but they failed to act. If any project should be considered shovel ready, this is certainly one of them.”

Taillieu said between the Building Canada Fund and the other funding allocated for infrastructure in the federal budget, Taillieu says there is no reason to delay construction.Taillieu has read petitions in the Manitoba Legislature signed by hundreds of concerned citizens calling for the twinning of this dangerous stretch of the Trans Canada.

Charleswood-St.James MP Stephen Fletcher has also made this issue a priority.