Discussions

I’ve been noticing this problem for a while now but need to rant a little . . .  
 
So here is the problem : I travel on the #1 every day and have noticed a steady increase in the number of bottles, milk jugs and other containers that are filled with urine and thrown into the ditches and onto the shoulders of the highway. Am I alone in this? I find it disgusting that people resort to peeing in a bottle while driving to start with, but the fact that there is such a high number of these containers along the road are a sign that there isn’t enough places along the highway for travelers, especially truckers, to stop at. Either that, or there's a lot of disgusting people on the road with a total lack of respect for others. Maybe it's a mix of both, I'm not sure. Regardless, I know I am not the only person who has noticed the obvious lack of fully equipped, 24 hour year round up-to-date washrooms along the #1 hwy in this province.  
 
As far as I know there are only two public, big-rig accessible, year round 24/7 rest stops along the 500km or so of Trans Canada Highway in Manitoba. One is located near Elkhorn near the MB-SK border, and one near Falcon Lake near the MB-ON border. There are other “wayside parks” on the #1, such as Camp Hughes rest area near Douglas, but all of of those stops are only open for the few short summer months, are not accessible to large vehicles, and are not equipped with proper entrances/exits off the highway. They are classified as wayside parks rather than rest areas and look to me more like picnic areas more than anything else. Some have outhouses, and Camp Hughes does have flush toilets. But, after a recent stop at the Camp Hughes wayside park I can tell you that the toilets and the 1960's era tin, smelly, bug-filled shack they are in is enough to make you vomit. I think you’d be better to go and squat in the trees. What day and age do we live in?  
 
There are a few gas stations (gas station near Austin comes to mind for example) that are located directly on the highway, but there are no 24/7 year-round public washrooms located anywhere along that stretch other than Portage and Brandon. The truck stops in Brandon and Portage are always filled to capacity early in the evening with large trucks stopped for the night, and are not easy to just pull into for a quick bathroom break if you are driving a large truck or large vehicle. There’s a high number of truckers and travelers who drive all night and I’m assuming that they are the ones who resort to using the pee jugs for a lack of other options, not that there is ANY excuse for doing it.  
 
Since the #1 is one of the provinces main arteries (and the only major east-west divided highway in MB), you would think that the government would invest in a year-round rest stop somewhere in central/western Manitoba for travelers. There are so many other places that would be so easy for the highways department to build a rest stop that it’s just silly to think the government hasn't invested in at least one of them somewhere within the province on the #1. Why not build one just outside of Portage? What about on the vast quantity of government land along the highway east of Brandon? How about in one of the many places with large areas between the east and westbound lanes that could accomodate a single washroom unit between the highways??  
 
I have contacted the Highways Department about this and have been told never to pick up containers filled with urine (hah! why would I want to anyway!?!) but instead to call them and they will have them properly disposed of at some point as they are considered hazardous waste. I know Manitoba is not alone with this problem but nothing seems to be being done about it here as it has been in other provinces.  
 
If you haven't noticed the pee bottles yet, take a look next time you are on the highway. I guarantee that the bottles in the ditches or discarded plastic bags with bottles inside are most often not empty.  
 
 
Edited by DJPJ, 2009-08-02 17:22:44