Dept. of Highways conducting study on Moosomin interchange, bypass
November 17, 2025, 8:53 am
by Nicole Taylor Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Saskatchewan Department of Highways is conducting a study on a future interchange and bypass for Highways 1 and 8 at Moosomin, and is looking for public input on four different options that include interchanges on the west and east side of Moosomin, at Main Street, and at Wright Road.
All four options would include closing all other Highway 1 accesses if an interchange was built at any of the four locations.
The ministry is conducting a survey looking for community feedback on the four option. The survey closes on November 24.
According to the ministry, “the study is about identifying land to be preserved for the future. No date has been set for any potential safety improvements.”
The options include a Highway 8 bypass that would limit the number of trucks travelling through Moosomin.
The survey is being conducted online.
All four options would see Highway 8 relocated west, and an interchange and a Reduced Collision U-Turn (RCUT) constructed on Highway 1.
The options are as follows:
Option 1 - West Interchange
This option involves constructing an interchange at Highway 1 and the realigned Highway 8 west of Moosomin. An RCUT intersection is constructed at Highway 1 and the East Access Road.
Option 2 – Main Street Interchange
This option involves constructing an interchange at Highway 1 and Main Street. To accommodate the Main Street interchange while avoiding impacts on existing development in Moosomin, Highway 1 realignment is required. An RCUT intersection is constructed at Highway 1 and the realigned Highway 8.
Option 3 – East Access Interchange
This option involves constructing an interchange at Highway 1 and the East Access Road. To accommodate the interchange while avoiding impacts on existing development in Moosomin, Highway 1 realignment is required. An RCUT intersection is constructed at Highway 1 and the realigned Highway 8.
Option 4 – Wright Road Interchange
This option involves constructing an interchange at Highway 1 and Wright Road. To accommodate the interchange while avoiding impacts on existing development in Moosomin, Highway 1 realignment is required. An RCUT intersection is constructed at Highway 1 and the realigned Highway 8.
CBA opposed to proposals
Tyler Thorn with the Community Builders Alliance says the CBA would not support any of the four options that Highways is looking at.
He says the town simply wanted to look at a truck bypass to take heavy truck traffic off of Main Street, not building cloverleaf intersections and close Moosomin’s Highway 1 intersections.
“I don’t think the CBA would support any of those four options,” he said.
“Number one, I don’t think it’s good for the town to close off any of the accesses to the town. I think our previous mayors and councillors worked hard to get those three accesses. Originally Highways only wanted two and I know they (the town council) put a lot of time and effort into getting us three accesses into town. And for good reason, it’s good for the business community to have those accesses.
“I think really what we are after is a truck route around town is where this all started, and I just don’t think there is any appetite from the taxpayers of Saskatchewan to support a $100 million truck bypass with a cloverleaf in Moosomin, Saskatchewan.
“I think there are better alternatives. There is an existing local truck route that with a little bit of upgrades and some signage, I think you have a truck route. Put some pavement on it, put some signs on it, make it a mandatory truck route instead of a local one, and I think the problem is solved. The problem is getting the heavy truck traffic off of Main Street.
“There is another way to address the safety issue. Put a set of traffic lights in. Other communities have traffic lights. Put photo radar in. There are lots of ways to address the safety aspect without spending so much on a cloverleaf.
“Thorn says some of the options are so extensive, they involve relocating the Trans-Canada Highway when the town was simply asking for a truck bypass.
“That’s where this whole thing started is locally we wanted to get the heavy truck traffic off of Main Street, and now it has sort of morphed into this huge plan. I mean if you look at some of those options, they are rebuilding the Trans-Canada Highway. It will just be an insane amount of money.”
Thorn says the impact of closing off some of Moosomin’s highway accesses would harm the town, pointing out that a lot of investment has been put into developing along the Trans-Canada Highway in Moosomin.
“I think the impact would be tremendous. I have the luxury of seeing the traffic that comes in in front of my building here, and every day it just boggles my mind how much traffic flows into town off of that highway, and most of that goes away if they start closing the accesses into town.”
Town, RM opposed to all four options, closing any intersections
Moosomin Mayor Murray Gray says that both the town and RM of Moosomin are opposed to all four options being looked at by the Department of Highways, and they have let them know that.
“We are not in favor of closing any of the intersections. A truck route around like they proposed is okay to get the semis off of Main Street, but as far as closing any of the intersections, we think it will be detrimental to economic development and we have told both the ministry and the engineering firm that,” he said.
“Safety is their highest priority when they are trying to make plans for down the road, but at what cost is making it absolutely safe? If you close all three intersections, you are going to deter economic development until it’s built.
“If you look at how they have done it in the past in say Balgonie as an example, it’s on the west end of town and there is one entrance to town, but 99 per cent of the traffic from Balgonie goes west. It’s a bedroom community. We’re not that, we have people coming in and out of town and to see our doctors and our businesses from all four directions.
“So that’s the big thing that I am trying to show them and talk to them about.
“I don’t like any aspect of it and I told them that, and both town council and RM council have come back with the same response. The two councils met to discuss it before we got back to them.”
Gray says a simple truck bypass would suffice.
“A truck route, whether it includes an overpass or not, just a truck route to get the semis off of Main Street, that’s the highest priority to me,” he said.
“As a taxpayer, project this extensive doesn’t make much sense to me. And to not lose any accesses at all would be my goal.
“The other things is those plans talk about R Cuts, that’s an inconvenient way to get in and out of a community as well. I think we want to be as open for business as we can be with the easiest access for people to come spend money in your town.
“I feel we are different than the other communities that they try to draw plans up for.
“The other thing I’m concerned about is access to our airport. We just spent $11 million on building an airport that would not have direct access with any of those plans. From a health standpoint and an economic development standpoint, that’s not good either, we need direct access between the hospital and the airport.”
Town, RM meeting with Highways
Gray says the Town and RM have held two Zoom meetings with Highways, and have also requested an in person meeting to discuss their concerns about the plans. Highways says it would be willing to sit down with the town in person.
“We’re not just going to give in to it, I’ll do whatever we can,” says Gray. “There is a little bit of a disconnect with the engineering firm that is handling it, which is WSP, and with the ministry.
“If you consider the provincial government’s grant money that they have spent in our region in the last five years, they are betting on us. It doesn’t make much sense to bet on our growth and all the good things we have going and then reduce access to the community.
Online survey
The survey regarding the four options for Moosomin is available online
https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/public-engagement/highway-1-moosomin-study
