Manitoba Highway 75

Highway 75
Lord Selkirk Highway
Route information
Maintained by Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation
Length:	101 km (63 mi)
Existed:	1949[1] – present
Major junctions
South end:	I‑29 / US 81 at US/Canadian border
	PTH 14 PTH 23 at Morris
North end:	PTH 100 / Route 42 in Winnipeg
Location
Major cities:	Winnipeg
Towns:	Emerson, Morris
Highway system
Manitoba provincial highways ← PTH 68 PTH 77 →

Provincial Trunk Highway 75 (PTH 75, also officially known as the Lord Selkirk Highway) is the main highway from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to the U.S. border, where it connects with Interstate 29.

Route description

The highway, which is part of Canada's National Highway System, begins at the Canada-United States border at Emerson and runs approximately 101 kilometers (63 miles) north, along on the west side of the Red River, to Winnipeg. There it connects with Pembina Highway, which forms the southern portion of Winnipeg Route 42.^[2][3]

The entire route is a 4-lane divided highway, but access is not fully controlled. Proposals do exist to upgrade the highway to an expressway or freeway standard with bypasses at Morris and St. Norbert. PTH 75 consisted of two lanes south of Morris until approximately 1992 when the current four-lane divided highway between Morris and United States border was built.

History

The PTH 75 route originated as a trail used by early settlers to travel between the Selkirk Settlement and Fort Pembina. The provincial government officially designated the road as the Lord Selkirk Highway in 1962 to commemorate this.^[4]

PTH 75 at Emerson, current and original configurations

Prior to the numbering system, PTH 75 was the northern leg of the Jefferson Highway, also known as the Palm to Pine Highway since it ended in New Orleans.

When Manitoba introduced the numbering system for highways in 1920, PTH 75 was originally numbered as Highway 14.^[5] In 1949, the government re-designated it to match U.S. Route 75 as, at that time, the highway crossed the Red River just north of the border before connecting with the U.S. 75 at the Emerson-Noyes, Minnesota border crossing on the east side of the river.^[1] Today, PTH 14 runs west from PTH 75 to PTH 3 near Winkler.

The Canadian government closed the Emerson East border crossing in 2003 to consolidate resources; the American port of entry at Noyes followed soon after. Motorists wishing to travel US 75 must now take Interstate 29 south to North Dakota Highway 59 at Pembina, North Dakota, then east to Minnesota State Highway 171, which connects to U.S. 75. In 2012, the provincial government officially re-routed PTH 75 to extend all the way to the Emerson-Pembina border crossing, which eliminated a short stretch of highway known as PTH 29. The old stretch of PTH 75 through Emerson is now part of an extended Provincial Road 200.^[6]

Planning is currently underway to redesign the PTH 75 approach to the Emerson border crossing, in order to accommodate future expansion at the port of entry.^[7]

Speed limits

On February 27, 2008 the Manitoba Highway Traffic Board approved a request by the Government of Manitoba to raise the speed limit on Highway 75 in Manitoba to 110 km/h (70 mph) on most sections between Winnipeg and the US border.^[8] The speed limit change took effect on July 1, 2009, where the speed limit was raised to 110 km/h only from St. Jean Baptiste to the Canada-U.S. border. The rest of the highway is still not set to the new speed and remains at 100 km/h (60 mph), though this might change in the future.^[9]

• Canada-U.S. border to St. Jean Baptiste- 110 km/h (70 mph)
• Morris- 50–80 km/h (30–50 mph)
• Remainder of Highway- 100 km/h (60 mph)

Flooding issues

PTH 75's proximity to the flood-prone Red River causes closures of the highway during spring flooding. The town of Morris is one of the most problematic areas, as the town is forced to close off the dikes surrounding the town, thereby cutting off PTH 75. These closures have a significant impact on the trucking industry, as PTH 75 is the primary transportation route between Winnipeg and the United States. The Manitoba Trucking Association estimates the closing of the highway costs the industry $1.5 million CAD per week. The closures also have a significant impact on Morris businesses that depend on travelers passing through town.^[10][11] There are several solutions being considered to fix the ongoing problem, including the building of new bridges and raising of roadways along PTH 75, and the construction of a bypass for PTH 75 around Morris.^[12][13]

Major intersections

This is the travel route for Provincial Trunk Highway 75 (PTH 75) from south to north:

Division	Location	km	mi	Destinations	Notes
Municipality of Emerson – Franklin	Emerson	0	0	I‑29 south / US 81 south – Pembina, Grand Forks, Fargo	Canada-U.S. border
		1	1	PR 200 north – Emerson, Dominion City, Winnipeg	Formerly PTH 75 south to US 75
		2	1	PR 243 west – Gretna
R.M. of Montcalm		15	9	PR 421 west – Altona
	Letellier	19	12	PR 201 – Altona, Dominion City, Stuartburn, Vita
		26	16	PTH 14 west – Altona, Plum Coulee, Winkler, Morden
	St. Jean Baptiste	35	22	PR 246 north – Aubigny
R.M. of Morris	Morris	45	28	PTH 23 east – La Rochelle, St. Malo	Southern end of PTH 23 concurrency
		46	29	PTH 23 west – Baldur, Lowe Farm, Miami, Somerset	Northern end of PTH 23 concurrency
		48	30	PR 330 north – La Salle	PTH 75 turns northeast
		59	37	PR 205 – Aubigny, Grunthal, Rosenort, St. Pierre-Jolys
R.M. of Ritchot		73	45	PR 305 – Brunkild, Ste. Agathe
	Glenlea	82	51	Glenlea Road	Formerly PR 420 north; PTH 75 turns north
		87	54	PR 210 east – Île-des-Chênes, Landmark, St. Adolphe, Ste. Anne	Formerly PR 429
		92	57	PR 247 west – Elm Creek, La Salle, Sanford
Winnipeg	St. Norbert	98	61	Turnbull Drive east	begin Winnipeg Route 42 (Pembina Hwy) concurrency
		101	63	PTH 100 (Perimeter Highway) – Brandon, Falcon Lake, Portage la Prairie	End Route 42 concurrency Route 42 (Pembina Hwy) continues north
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

References

Route map: Bing