The RM of Portage Council's approved a request by the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation to place a shelterbelt along the north side of the Trans Canada Highway, near the Highway 13 junction.

CAO Nettie Neudorf tells us some of Council's concerns were addressed.

"There currently isn't one there," she says. "And the location that they proposed had some features on it that were concerns to Council. One was going through some farm land, and that's not where Council sees it as a preferred location. If there's going to be a shelterbelt, it should match close to where we see the rest of the shelterbelt along the highway."

Neudorf calls the shelterbelts a safety measure.

"There are a number of sections along the Number 1 (Highway) where when a skiff of snow is right there because the shelterbelt has stopped, it becomes really unsafe. People are using the cruise (control), and to have to shift and change their speed, and their technique of driving, makes for dangerous conditions when the highway is not in consistent form."