A new highway link that bypasses St. Norbert is coming to south Winnipeg.

It extends Kenaston Boulevard past the Perimeter Highway, linking up to Highway 75 south of the La Salle River.

Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Steve Ashton announced the $400-million project on Thursday morning, saying construction will be underway in five years and completed within 10.

It will include six kilometres of road and two cloverleafs — one at Kenaston and the Perimeter, and the other at
Highway 75 — and a bridge over the La Salle River.

The speed limit on the highway has yet to be determined but it is much faster than the current 50 km/h along Highway 75 through St. Norbert, according to Ashton.

The announcement of the bypass comes less than a month after the province announced plans to spend up to $800 million to upgrade intersections in the same area, along the south Perimeter Highway.

Those interchanges and the bypass work will be co-ordinated so the construction and completion "smoothly tie together," said Ashton.

The highway improvements are being lauded by the trucking industry.

"These links and others, such as the planned Headingley bypass and the other improvements to streamline the Perimeter Highway, help improve road safety and they help the environment by permitting vehicles to operate at peak efficiency, rather than idling at lights," said Terry Shaw, executive director of the Manitoba Trucking Association.