Saskatchewan has the longest per-capita roadway network in Canada, sitting at 26,500 kilometres in length.

Dan Palmer with the Ministry of Highways says a network that long requires a lot of road signs: 126,000 to be exact.

“Out of those 126,000 signs across that 26,500 kilometre network, annually about 10,000 are either damaged, need to be replaced or installed. So, just a little less than eight per cent.”

Palmer says causes of damage include vehicle accidents, ditch mowing, vandalism, and extreme weather.

“From the winter to the spring, that often involves repairing a sign that was buried in the snow after a storm… Severe storms, high winds, flooding, heavy snow.

And you might be thinking, why are the signs so fragile? Palmer says many of them were built that way.

“The smaller structures, they use wooden posts, and they’re designed to break if hit during a vehicle collision to mitigate the severity of that collision. Others, the larger ones, in some cases are designed to break away.”

The Province budgeted over $4 million dollars for sign repair this year. Palmer advises drivers to watch out for maintenance crews while out of the roads this spring and summer.