The R.M. of Morse has scored some funding to upgrade a stretch of road north of Herbert.

Through the Rural Integrated Roads for Growth program (RIRG), the provincial government is providing the municipality with $258,433 to re-surface a road that had seen much of its original thin-membraned surface removed from use since originally being laid in the 70s.

Mark Wilson is the Administrator for the municipality:

"Well, it was an oil-surfaced road. You know, in the seventies, traffic was a different make-up than it is today with semis hauling grain and that type of thing. So the loading of roads has changed over the years. Certainly, the pavement that was originally put on there to handle lighter trucks didn't withstand the heavier loads and the increased volume as elevator consolidation moved in and there was more traffic...heavier traffic on that road."

The grant is a part of the third phase of the RIRG, which is divvying up $25.7 million dollars between 69 municipalities in 2021-22.

Over the three phases, the provincial government reported that 219 road projects have been approved, valued at $233.6 million with $55.5 million in RIRG support. That includes 61 projects from the first two phases that are currently active.

According to Wilson, the majority of roads in the R.M. wouldn't qualify for the RIRG program.

"It has to be a higher classification of road. So that is somewhat of the reason that we applied for funding under this program for that location just because it met the criteria to apply for it. A lot of the roads are lower volume that wouldn't be eligible."

Also getting grant money from the same program are the R.Ms of Bone Creek ($500,000), Gull Lake ($150,279), Happyland ($165,000) and Deer Forks ($367,925)