Key Takeaways
- Highway 995, a 102-kilometre gravel road, is in its final construction stages and will give two northern Saskatchewan communities year-round road access for the first time.
- Ottawa has invested just over $70.3 million in the project, which has been planned since 2004 and is set to finish construction in 2027.
- A further $1,368,000 will fund the first phase of a landfill upgrade through the Build Communities Strong Fund.
A road that doesn't disappear when winter ends
Imagine your road to the rest of Saskatchewan depends on the season.
For more than 1,800 people in Hatchet Lake Denesuline First Nation and Wollaston Lake, that has been reality. Travelling south has meant taking a seasonal 50-kilometre ice road, flying, or relying on a water barge.
Now, after more than two decades of planning and construction, a permanent connection is nearly ready.
Highway 995, a 102-kilometre gravel highway, has entered its final stages of construction. When completed in 2027, it will give both northern Saskatchewan communities year-round road access for the first time.
More than 20 years in the making
Planning and design began in 2004.
Saskatchewan contributed $250,000 at the beginning of the current project and another $10.1 million toward the first 14 kilometres, constructed between 2007 and 2011.
Indigenous Services Canada says its investment in planning, design and construction has now reached just over $70,347,000.
The route connects Highway 995 to Highway 905, which links to Highway 102 heading south.
Until construction finishes in 2027, the road remains under community and contractor operation. Saskatchewan's Ministry of Highways will then take responsibility for operating and maintaining it.
For communities accustomed to seasonal road access, that handover will mark a major change.
A landfill upgrade comes with the announcement
The road wasn't the only infrastructure investment announced.
The federal government also committed $1,368,000 through the Build Communities Strong Fund for the first phase of a local landfill upgrade.
The project includes a new waste cell designed to hold 10 years of municipal waste, a leachate collection system, a stormwater pond and operating stations.
The existing landfill will be capped and closed.
The funding remains conditional on environmental-assessment requirements being met.
Secretary of State for Rural Development Buckley Belanger highlighted both investments:
"our government's investment of over $70 million to help make Highway 995 a reality, along with another $1.3 million to upgrade the local landfill."
The Twikup Take
For most Canadians, a road is something they barely think about.
For more than 1,800 people in these two northern Saskatchewan communities, year-round road access has been more than 20 years in the making.
The distance is 102 kilometres. The significance is much bigger: a permanent road connection where seasonal travel options once defined the journey.
After more than two decades, Highway 995 is finally approaching the finish line.
Image: Illustrative image.