Manitoba Infrastructure will be gearing up for some major construction work along Highway 75 south of Morris.

The northbound lane between St. Jean and Morris will be ripped up and reconstructed, raising the lane up to a 2009 flood level. Dirt used for the project has been stockpiled just outside of St. Jean.

Doug Struthers explains how this will roll out in spring.

"The bridgework that is currently being done on 75 between St. Jean and Morris will be completed over the winter and spring and then we will be putting out a tender to complete the new concrete reconstruction which is basically halfway between St. Jean and Morris right up to and including those new lanes that were graded last year."

One thing is for sure. The highway between Morris and St. Jean won't be raised in time for this year's spring flood season.

The U-S National Weather Service is already saying there's a good chance the Red River will reach major flood stage at most locations on the American side of the border.

Anything higher than a 2009 size flood in Manitoba would likely submerge the highway in a number of locations. Struthers explains how much damage a highway sustains when that happens.

"It depends on how the highway is constructed. Most of the damage is limited to highway shoulders when the water is running over the highway and washing away some of the gravel. We have since taken that into account when we design and construct these new highways where we now have a paved shoulder making it less likely that erosion will take place."

Manitoba’s Hydrologic Forecast Centre is expected to release its first flood outlook later this month.