It appears that winter-like weather has returned for a short period, but for many Saskatchewan cyclists, the weather and road conditions are something they deal with every day, year-round. This week in our CAA Worst Roads Roving Reporter series, we interviewed Sarah Bilawski who cycles over 10 thousand kilometers annually. Bilawski knows all too well about the dangers of cycling on unsafe roads: “There's a lot for cars to pay attention to... even though I ride following the rules, if a car has to swerve to not hit a pothole, you can get hit.” CAA’s Worst Roads campaign, which started on April 4, 2023, invites all road users including cyclists, pedestrians, bus riders, motorists, and motorcyclists to nominate and vote for the worst, unsafe road they have recently travelled on.

Watch the interview with Angel Blair and Sarah Bilawski

The current top ten list with roads and highways from across the province of nominated and voted worst roads, is located here. Problems such as potholes, crumbling pavement, poor infrastructure, lack of signage, and congestion are the major issues that are being tracked during the campaign which ends on April 25th, 2023.

Cyclist on Grant Drive in Regina

On Thursday, April 20th, 2023, the CAA Worst Roads spotlight is on Saskatoon’s Circle Drive and Moose Jaw’s 4th Avenue Viaduct. The City of Saskatoon’s Todd Grabowski talks about the improvements being made on Circle Drive which was #6 in the CAA 2022 Top Ten Worst Roads. Clive Tolley, Mayor of Moose Jaw, shares his insights on Moose Jaw’s 4th Avenue Viaduct which placed #7 in 2022.

Moose Jaw's 4th Avenue Viaduct

This year’s road user stakeholder interviews are on the CAA Saskatchewan YouTube channel that feature roads from the 2022 CAA Top 10 Worst Roads list including: Saskatchewan #47 Springside which placed #2 and also #2 in the 2018 CAA Worst Roads, Regina’s Mayfair Crescent which was the #1 CAA Worst Road in 2022, Grant Drive which placed #8 in 2022 and #6 in 2021 and #8 in 2019. In 9th place in the 2022 CAA Worst Roads campaign was Regina’s Ingersoll Crescent. Interviews with Shantel Lipp, Executive Director, Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association and with Assistant Deputy Minister Tom Lees from the Ministry of Highways are also featured.

CAA Saskatchewan’s social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn will be utilized to promote the campaign for worst roads nominations and votes.

Nominating and voting for the worst, unsafe roads you’ve recently travelled on is easy. Here’s how:

1. Click caask.ca/worstroads.
2. Select a road - municipal or provincial - and a specific segment or section.
3. Identify what type of road user you are – motorist, cyclist, motorcyclist, pedestrian, or transit rider. Select the "problem" from the provided drop-down menu.
4. Road users can vote as more than one type of road user every 24 hours.
5. The CAA Worst Roads site includes a Google Map Locater that will visualize vote distribution across the province. It will pinpoint the current locations of the nominated roads that are receiving votes.
6. Potholes and crumbling pavement have been the most prominent safety issues during the CAA Worst Roads campaigns. However, cracks, general disrepair, poor signage, congestion, and unsafe infrastructure have also been identified by road users.
7. Vote now until April 25. CAA’s 2023 Top Ten Worst Roads will be announced on April 26, 2023.

CAA Saskatchewan is a safety advocate, and the CAA Worst Roads is an online engagement campaign aimed at drawing attention to our province’s worst, unsafe roads. This year’s top ten list of worst roads will be distributed to government and business leaders in hopes of sparking conversation and action.

Working towards better roads and safety for all road users is a priority for CAA Saskatchewan.

Angel Blair
Senior Communications Specialist
306.216.7362
angel.blair@caask.ca