Saskatchewan looking to improve trucker resources near Grand Coulee, GTH

The province is currently improving highway access to the GTH, as three new facilities are being built to accommodate truckers. Wayne Mantyka reports.

A large truck stop will be built on the Trans-Canada Highway just west of Regina – with one of three new facilities being built to accommodate truckers.

Those travelling on Highway 1 to Moose Jaw may have witnessed construction near Grand Coulee.

Over the summer, construction crews have been hard at work building on and off-ramps at the Grand Coulee turnoff. The road work is now close to complete.

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“There’s going to be a big development there. There’s going to be a pretty massive truck stop going in that area,” Highways Minister David Marit told reporters Monday.

The Government of Saskatchewan has invested $9 million on intersection improvements in the area. It says the truck stop will be built by Suncor Energy, that company typically operates under the Petro Canada brand.

“They’re in partnership with the ministry on developing that whole area,” Marit went on to explain. “It will be kind of a roundabout on the north side of number one highway that’ll [provide] access for trucks coming in and out and going through the province for service that they want to provide to.”

The new truck stop is one of three commercial fueling facilities being added in the Regina area. The Co-op has built a card lock at the Pilot Butte turnoff east of the city, while UFA has opened a similar facility at the Global Transportation Hub (GTH).

“So, what attracts us to the GTH is the Saskatchewan government has, in my mind, created such vision for growth, the GTH concept, the global transportation hub, is a very necessary concept,” UFA CEO Fred Thun told reporters Monday. “There’s such a high volume of heavy commercial traffic moving through this area.”

That traffic would rather not drive through the city. The new facilities will allow truckers to fuel up along the bypass.