Paving crews were out on Highway 5 west of Humboldt on August 11, to finish the short-term to fix of the highway. "They've got all the paving finished and they're installing fabric on the side slopes," said Kristen Leatherdale from the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure (MHI) on August 12. Crews were installing fabric from the shoulders, down two metres underwater. The fabric is to help prevent erosion of the highway."It's pretty labour-intensive work, in the water," said Leatherdale. A section of the highway approxiamately seven kilometres west of Humboldt had been closed from July 2 to August 6. Water from the sloughs that border overflowed onto the road and to get the road open again, MHI elevated the 800 metre section of highway by a metre. The highway officially opened on August 6, but at that time, it still had a seal coat on top. Paving crews finished installing the pavement and fabric August 13. The speed limit on that section of road has been reduced to 70 kilometres an hour because it is narrower since they built it up. There are signs warning motorists to slow down and reflective posts on either side of the shoulders, showing where the road ends.Even though the highway is now paved, MHI has more work planned for the fall. "We're going to have to get out there and do the final grade and widen the highway, so it looks exactly like it used to," said Leatherdale.They are in the process of hiring a contractor to do this work and do not have an exact date as to when it will start.
