REGINA, Sask. — The province of Saskatchewan is helping mould the next generation of road crews by putting 165 students to work on the province’s highways this summer.

Highways and Transportation Minister, Mark Wartman, boasts his department is one of the largest government employers of students in the province.

“Our student employees are a valuable asset,” says Wartman. “It is important to support our young people by providing them with job opportunities specific to their future careers. In turn, our department gains a group of enthusiastic workers to help deliver projects that will improve our highway network.”

Students will be filling a wide variety of roles, including fleet services, transport compliance, transportation policy, information technology services and human resources.

Meanwhile, to help improve their safety, the province has changed the color of the safety vests worn by road crews from orange to fluorescent yellow-green. This is aimed at enabling motorists to better spot highways workers who are working among orange construction signs, cones etc.

“The safety of our workers is always a priority,” says Wartman. “As we head into our peak construction period, and as students are being hired for summer employment, these new vests will help to improve safety.”

The new vests have fluorescent material covering the front and back, with silver strips making them more visible during dawn, dusk and at night.