The highway, which is part of Canada's National Highway System, begins at the Pembina-Emerson Border Crossing and runs approximately 101 kilometres north, along on the west side of the Red River, to Winnipeg. There it connects with Pembina Highway, which forms the southern portion of Winnipeg Route 42. PTH 75 is also part of an International Mid-Continent Trade Corridor, a network of highways and rail lines that connects cities in central regions of North America. The entire route is a four-lane divided highway, but access is not fully controlled. Proposals exist to upgrade the highway to an expressway or freeway standard, with bypasses at the town of Morris and Winnipeg neighbourhood of St. Norbert.
History
The PTH 75 route originated as the Pembina Trail, which was used to travel between the Selkirk Settlement and Fort Pembina during the 19th century. The provincial government commemorated this by designating the road as the Lord Selkirk Highway in 1962. By the early 20th century, the trail evolved into the Canadian leg of the Jefferson Highway leading from Winnipeg to New Orleans. When Manitoba introduced the numbering system for highways in 1920, the route was originally designated as PTH 14. In 1949, PTH 14 was re-designated as PTH 75 in order to match U.S. Route 75 as, at that time, these roads connected at the Noyes–Emerson East Border Crossing, PTH 75's former southern terminus, and it was common practice for Manitoba to match highway numbers with connecting U.S. routes. As part of the re-designation, former PTH 14 between Emerson and Letellier was replaced by a new route approximately three kilometres west of the original road that closely followed the Red River. In the 1950s, PTH 75's route through the Rural Municipality of Ritchot was rebuilt to the west of its original course and bypasses were built at the communities of Ste. Agathe and St. Jean Baptiste. PTH 75 was gradually converted to a four-lane highway between 1985 and 1994. The exception was a three-kilometre section between the Emerson East border station and PTH 29. This section of road was eliminated from PTH 75's route in 2012 when the provincial government officially rerouted the latter to the Pembina-Emerson Border Crossing following the closures of the Emerson East and Noyes border stations a few years earlier. Motorists wishing to travel U.S. 75 are now required to detour through Pembina, North Dakota via I-29, North Dakota Highway 59, and Minnesota State Highway 171. The former PTH 75 route through Emerson is now part of Provincial Road 200 and Boundary Avenue. The federal and provincial governments are currently reconstructing the PTH 75 approach to the Emerson border crossing in order to accommodate future expansion at the port of entry. The Manitoba government also has future plans to reroute PTH 75 around the Winnipeg neighborhood of St. Norbert and connect it to Winnipeg Route 90.
Speed limits
On February 27, 2008 the Manitoba Highway Traffic Board approved a request by the Government of Manitoba to raise the speed limit on PTH 75 to. The speed limit change took effect on July 1, 2009, with the speed limit raised to from St. Jean Baptiste to the Canada-U.S. border. The remainder of the highway continues to have a speed limit of except in urban areas.
Canada-U.S. border to St. Jean Baptiste-
Morris-
Remainder of Highway-
Flooding issues
PTH 75's proximity to the flood-prone Red River causes closures of the highway during spring flooding. The town of Morris is one of the most problematic areas, as the town is forced to close off the dikes surrounding the town, thereby cutting off PTH 75. These closures have a significant impact on the trucking industry, as PTH 75 is the primary transportation route between Winnipeg and the United States. The Manitoba Trucking Association estimates the closing of the highway costs the industry $1.5 million CAD per week. The closures also have a significant impact on Morris businesses that depend on travelers passing through town. Several solutions have been considered to fix the ongoing problem, including the building of new bridges and raising of roadways along PTH 75. In June 2020, the Manitoba government unveiled a plan to upgrade a portion of PR 246 to utilize it as a bypass when the dike at the north end of Morris is closed.
Major intersections
This is the travel route for Provincial Trunk Highway 75 from south to north:
