It appears there is a possible solution to prevent commuters from parking along Highway 52 west of Steinbach.

Luc Lahaie is Chief Administrative Officer for the Rural Municipality of Hanover. He says for the last three years he has been noticing more and more commuters setting up their own park and ride initiatives along Highway 52. But Lahaie says they are either parking on field access driveways or provincial drain allowances.

(Vehicles parked on roadside is a common sight along Highway 52)"It is causing grief to local farmers who have strange vehicles parked on their farm accesses," notes Lahaie. "Which makes it difficult for them to access the farmland."

Lahaie says the municipality is looking to do something very basic to rectify the problem. He notes they want to set up an official park and ride at the Tourond Creek Discovery Centre. At a cost of between $8,000 and $10,000, Lahaie says they want to widen the driveway at the Discovery Centre, add some fill, geotextile fabric and gravel in order to set up diagonal parking stalls. He suggests they might create parking for 20 vehicles.

Lahaie notes the Discovery Centre is open 365 days per year and the park and ride would allow enough room for easy access by patrons. The Tourond Creek Discovery Centre is operated jointly with Seine Rat River Conservation District and Lahaie says the project would be cost shared.

"They have committed that they do feel that this is a great project," says Lahaie.

There is no hydro at that site and so the stalls would not provide opportunity for commuters to plug in their vehicles. Lahaie says there would be no cost to park there.

"If this goes well this might be the first of many in the future of various park and ride locations in Hanover," says Lahaie.