A minor landmark near Denare Beach will be spared from a blasting crew’s explosives.
Just northeast of Denare Beach, along Highway 167, is a literal rock face – a section of rock that resembles a large human face.
To improve visibility for motorists, the Saskatchewan government has in recent years removed sections of rock along the highway.
If funding is available, work will continue next year and potentially beyond, but a provincial spokeswoman confirmed there are no plans to remove the face.
“We had crews drive by and they did note it’s far [enough] away from the road it doesn’t obscure the sightline right now,” Sonja Orban told The Reminder. “So it’s not a safety issue.”
She said she could not speak to what may happen many years down the road but added that for the foreseeable future, the rock will stay put.
Though one area resident expressed concern to The Reminder over the future of the rock, Orban said she was unaware of any concerns or complaints made to the province.
For the past few summers, the province has hired a contractor to blast away different sections of sightline-obscuring rock along Highway 167, which connects Denare Beach and Creighton.
Orban said the province has budgeted between $50,000 and $100,000 a year for the work. “It’s a type of regular maintenance,” she said in a phone interview from her office in Regina.
Orban couldn’t say how many years it may take for the province to be satisfied with visibility on
Highway 167.
