COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC INPUT

The East Side Road Authority (ESRA) is committed to the involvement of local residents, community leaders and non-governmental organizations as the East Side Transportation Initiative proceeds.

To gather public input, ESRA has established a Public Involvement Program for the East Side Transportation Initiative.

The Public Involvement Program consists of two separate but related components:

1) All-season road from PR 304 to Berens River First Nation

ESRA has enlisted the engineering consultant firm of SNC-Lavalin/AECOM as the Study Team to review various route options and to conduct the environmental impact assessment of the all-season road from PR 304 near Manigotagan to Berens River First Nation.

To assist in identifying the appropriate route and to assess the environmental impacts, the Project Team has held a series of community and public meetings to hear from local residents and stakeholders in the study region regarding the construction of an all-season road.

To date, Round 1- Project Introductory Meetings have been completed and feedback received from the communities was incorporated into the Environmental Impact Assessment, which was filed in November, 2009. Subsequently, Round 2 Community Meetings were held to report back to local residents on the EIA.

Before construction can begin, the project requires authorizations from federal and provincial regulators. Federal and provincial regulatory agencies are now in the process of reviewing the EIA in order to determine whether federal and provincial authorizations will be approved. Pending environmental approval, construction of the all-season road from PR 304 to Berens River First Nation will begin by the end of 2010. Upgrades to the Rice River Road and other preliminary work is ongoing.

2) East Side Large Area Transportation Network Study

The East Side Transportation Study is a strategic initiative to identify potential linkages and improvements to the existing transportation network on the East Side of Lake Winnipeg. As a planning exercise a key goal of the broader area network study is to identify ways to provide improved, safe, and more reliable transportation services among the communities located beyond the PR 304 to Berens River Project Region.

ESRA has enlisted engineering consultant firm of SNC-Lavalin/AECOM as the Study Team to undertake the broader area transportation network study which will include consideration of:

  • Potential traffic demands
  • Travel distances and patterns
  • Identification of preferred alignments and routing options
  • Costing of construction,
  • Minimizing environmental and social impacts,
  • Accomodation of tradtitional land use patterns.

As part of the study, The Project Team will be holding a number of rounds of community and public meetings to hear from local residents regarding their views on ways and means to improve transportation services within the region.

To date, Round 1 – Transportation Network Study Region Introductory Meetings were held in communities throughout the region. During these meetings, seven all-season road route options were presented to the public. Based on public input, traditional ecological knowledge studies and analysis of technical considerations, these options have been refined into three shortlisted route options. Round 2 Community Meetings have been scheduled to update local residents and gather additional information on the shortlisted route options. The meetings are as scheduled:

  • Where: Little Grand Rapids
    When: Monday, May 31


  • Where: Pauingassi
    When: Tuesday, June 1


  • Where: Poplar River
    When: Wednesday, June 2


  • Where: Wasagamack
    When: Thursday, June 3


  • Where: St. Theresa Point
    When: Friday, June 4


  • Where: Island Lake
    When: Monday, June 7


  • Where: Red Sucker Lake
    When: Tuesday, June 8


  • Where: Gods Lake Narrows
    When: Wednesday, June 9


  • Where: Manto Sipi First Nation (Gods River)
    When: Thursday, June 10


  • Where: Bunibonibee First Nation (Oxford House)
    When: Friday, June 11


  • Where: Pimicikamak Cree Nation (Cross Lake )
    When: Saturday, June 12


The study is currently underway and is expected to be completed with recommendations for an all-season road alignment by the end of 2010.