Rural Manitoba roads earn dubious honours in CAA Worst Roads campaign
CAA Manitoba has announced the 'winner' of its annual Worst Roads campaign, and the dubious honour goes to Provincial Trunk Highway 34 in the Central Plains/Pembina Valley area.
This year, the auto club said Thursday, marks the first time nine of the top 10 worst roads — as selected by Manitoba drivers — are outside Winnipeg's city limits, with Saskatchewan Avenue as the lone road in the provincial capital making the list at number 10.
Drivers cited frustration with potholes as a major reason for PTH 34's nomination, with poor maintenance, poor signage, and unpaved sections adding to the overall experience.
These frustrations, CAA said, aren't new — the highway has appeared on six of the annual Worst Roads lists, but 2025 marks its first time atop the leaderboard.
A crumbling section of Provincial Trunk Highway 34 in Central Plains — the 'winner' of Manitoba's Worst Road for 2025. CAA Manitoba
CAA's Ewald Friesen said the goal of the annual campaign is to raise awareness about the condition of some roads across the province and to hopefully spur government action when it comes to road repairs.
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'The CAA Worst Roads campaign provides a powerful snapshot to governments on where to prioritize budgets and move up road repairs by giving Manitobans an opportunity to have their say on the difficulties they are experiencing in getting around,' Friesen said.
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'We saw the proof of this when last year's winner, 18th Street in Brandon, received a swift and co-ordinated response from governments on the same day the results were released, with shovels in the ground by fall.'
Friesen said this year's campaign saw a large increase in the number of nominees, with more than 700 roads across 86 municipalities getting the nod.
Joining PTH 34 in first place and Winnipeg's Saskatchewan Avenue at number 10 are two highways in the Interlake (PR 234 and 239), Richmond Avenue and 26th Street in Brandon, PR 307 in the Whiteshell, PR 349 in Westman, PTH 12 in the Eastman area, and PTH 26, also in Central Plains.
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