Wednesday's provincial budget was balanced and invests nearly a billion dollars into improved roads and highway safety.

The Saskatchewan government will spend $706.1 million dollars on highways and infrastructure, with the promise of improving roughly 1,000 kilometres of provincial highways. Nearly half of the total investment will be for capital projects, with $351 million being used in the 2019/2020 budget. 

Minster of Highways and Infrastructure Lori Carr said they've ramped up a program to help improve safety at highway intersections. 

"This program we're going to be investing in is going to be $65 million over a five-year time frame, so about $13 million a year. We were currently spending around $7 million on these types of improvements, but with the tragedy that happened up north, we decided it was something we were going to focus on and accelerate," Carr explained. "We have actually reviewed approximately 1,300 intersections throughout the province and we look at traffic volumes, have there been previous accidents and all of those sorts of things. Then we put them in order and this year we are going to be addressing 60 intersections."

Some of those improvements could be things like added lighting or signage, or even rumble strips or a turning lane. 

"They range from small things to big things. Not every intersection is a huge improvement, but it could be something small that just makes it safer," Carr added.

Road construction in the southeast will see passing lanes added on Highway 39 between Weyburn and Estevan as well as on Highway 6 between the Opportunity City and Regina. Carr didn't guarantee that the project would be wrapped up this year. 

"Depending on the engineering on that will decide how much we get done this summer. But that will be really significant to get some of those passing lanes in to make our highways that much safer," she said. 

Road repair and repaving will happen on Highway 18 between Torquay and Oungre, with Carr noting that stretch has "been needing upgrades for quite some time."

In total, $121.3 million will be used towards upgrading highways around the province and repaving. An additional $89 million will be spent on the Regina Bypass to ensure its completion by the fall of 2019. 

Other work on highways in the province will be completed on Highway 7 between Saskatoon and Delisle, passing lanes on Highway 5 west of Saskatoon, passing lanes on Highway 2 north of Moose Jaw, passing lanes west of Rosetown on Highway 7 and passing lanes between Canora and Melville on Highways 9 and 10.

Upgrades and repairs will take place on Highway 1 west of Tompkins, Highway 9 north of Usherville, Highway 10 east of Qu'Appelle and Highway 15 west of Kenaston. 

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