WINNIPEG — Highway 75 in Southern Manitoba is seen by some as the weak link in the province’s plan to create CentrePort, a mega-sized inland, intermodal hub.

According to a report in The Winnipeg Free Press, flooding has closed Manitoba’s main north-south trade route for nearly 100 days in the last 13 years.

Comparatively, North Dakota’s I-29 through Grand Forks and Fargo has been forced closed for only eight days in the last decade due to flooding — and all of those during last spring’s massive flood.

North of the border, parts of Hwy. 75, especially through the town of Morris, were underwater for 36 days, forcing truckers to take a 100-km detour and virtually doubling their costs.

And since trucks aren’t amphibious, the vital highway link’s vulnerability to flooding (not to mention countless of other secondary roads around the Red River) has raised questions on the reliability of Centreport as a central staging area for freight destined for markets all over North America.

Ron Weatherburn of Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation told the paper that continuing to strengthen the north-south artery is a priority for the government.

The province has already spent millions repaving parts of Highway 75 and raising it a foot.

Other options include raising the highway and the bridge into Morris, creating a bypass truck route and adding more dikes.

The Manitoba Trucking Association says it’s not possible to completely flood-proof Highway 75, so the province should consider upgrading Highway 200 on top of improvements to the main route.

Last spring, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced $100 million in federal funds to help stimulate private sector investment in CentrePort.