Highway 13 between Oakville and Elm Creek can get pretty busy on any given day throughout the year with trucks using it as a corridor to and from the United States, not to mention the population growth of Morden and Winkler. Thanks to construction in Headingley, thousands of extra vehicles heading East to Winnipeg this week are now being diverted onto the stretch of road each day as well.
The road was never intended to handle this amount of traffic so it is no surprise there have been delays, traffic has been moving slowly and things are backed up, especially at the intersection of Highway 13 and 2 at Elm Creek, where southbound vehicles turn left to go to Winnipeg.
Former Terrier Chris Miller has lived in Elm Creek his whole life and says he has never seen it like this.
"Last night, the line was two miles long and it was taking people 30 minutes to get to the stop sign. The same thing has been happening at Oak Bluff at the roundabout. Traffic to get into it during the busy times has been backed up for a long way."
The intersection of 13 and 2 is already known to be a dangerous one with numerous accidents over the years. Miller is hoping people don't get frustrated, take their time, and make sure to proceed safely. Part of the delay is caused by the extra time the double length semi-trailers need to turn onto Highway 2 and traffic is being affected in all directions.
The stretch of road has already seen some accidents since the detour was put in place, one Monday and one Tuesday morning that STARS attended to. The Tuesday accident though happened just south of Elm Creek which is not part of the detour route.
Construction crews are working long days in Headingley with the plan to have the road open again by Friday evening.
PortageOnline's Noah Fuchs was caught off guard with the closure in Headingley and said it was confusing as to where traffic should go that was headed West to Portage.
Mon, Jul 1, 8:39 PM
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