The province of Manitoba has released its overall vision for Winnipeg’s South Perimeter Highway, which is going to see some major upgrades over at least the next two decades.

“We’ve set out to do substantive work to address safety and operational problems. This study will serve as our blueprint for the next 20 to 30 years,” said Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler during Thursday’s announcement.

“Our goal is to make the South Perimeter safer and easier to travel for the more than 30,000 vehicles that drive on the South Perimeter – for that matter the Perimeter Highway – every day.”

The entire plan for the upgrades has been broken into two phases.

The first was designed with forecasted 2048 traffic volumes in mind and includes making the highway into a four-lane divided freeway, improving and adding interchanges, as well as widening some sections.

The second stage includes expanding the highway into six lanes, constructing additional interchanges, and building a bypass around St. Norbert.

Due to the size and scope of the project, neither Schuler nor the report itself went into detail about the potential costs or timeline, although the minister said it would be “in the billions of dollars.”

“This is something we’re going to have to whittle away,” Schuler told reporters.

“We’re 1.2 million people in a province the size of two average European countries. So I think we do a really good job at what we do, however a several-billion-dollar project, I can’t put a timeline on that.”

That said, four specific projects have been approved with rough construction dates scheduled.

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