High water this spring caused some delays on the construction of the Highway 75 northbound bridge outside St. Jean, but work has resumed now that the water has receded.

Crews made good progress on the structure over the winter and work will soon begin on raising the northbound lanes between St. Jean Baptiste and Morris. It's all part of the province's efforts to flood proof the highway to a maximum 2009 flood level.

"People will continue to see work on widening the roadway to allow for the increased height of the northbound lanes on PTH 75," said Larry Halayko, Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation's director of construction and maintenance. "Also, we're going to put out a tender for about five kilometres of concrete paving a little further north towards the Morris end."

Some changes will be made to straighten the curves in the highway coming into Morris, and the dike protecting Morris on the south side will also be altered.

"The intent is to raise the highway high enough so that we don't require a lane closure or a plug that we would normally put in at the dike for 1997 flood levels. In order to accommodate that we will have to shift the lanes a little bit over to the east. Some of that grading work should commence this year as well," said Halayko.

The province expects reconstruction of the highway's northbound lanes between St. Jean and Morris will be finished by 2020, at which time work will begin on raising the highway between Morris and Aubigny.

The entire flood proofing project had an estimated price tag of $215 million when it was first announced in 2013. The province has earmarked about $21 million for the project in this year's budget.