REGINA — The length of Saskatchewan’s primary weight highway system increase by more than 50 percent on July 1 and will stay that way for nine months.

The primary weight expansion is an initiative of the ministry’s Rural Highway Strategy. The corridors added to the primary system were identified through an extensive analysis of the secondary weight highway system. Primary weights will be available on the new corridors on a nine-month basis annually (July-March).

Depending on a truck’s configuration, primary weights can increase payload capacity from 15 to 50 percent.

"In our growing economy, most of our key industries rely on truck haul," Highways and Infrastructure Minister Jim Reiter said. "This expansion of the primary weight system generates some $30 million in cost savings for industry, makes Saskatchewan businesses more competitive, improves the investment climate in our rural communities and has a positive impact on carbon emissions."

The expansion brings Saskatchewan’s primary weight system to a total length of 14,400 km. This includes 8,250 km of 12-month primary weight highways and 1,200 km of existing nine-month primary weight highways.