INNISFAIL – An older residential neighbourhood is about to be modernized with $2.6-million worth of underground infrastructure, surface improvements and new sidewalks along two blocks of 41st Street and 49A Avenue.
At town council’s regular meeting on Feb. 12 the reconstruction project was approved to move forward to the wrap-up of the design phase, followed by the tendering process and with construction tentatively scheduled to start in spring.
"It’s an older neighbourhood, kind of an older standard,” said Rod Fraser, the town’s new director of operations. "This will modernize it (neighbourhood) so everything will be brand new, from property line to property line.”
He said the project along 390 metres of 41st Street, from 50th Avenue to 48th Avenue, and 440 metres along 49A Avenue, from 40th Street to 42nd Street, should have shovels in the ground by mid-May and be completed sometime in August.
"It is a longer project and will probably take a couple of months to get it all done. It just depends,” said Fraser. "If there is good weather it can go fast, but if we get lots of rain it tends to bog things down a bit and wait a few extra days for it to dry out.”
The project includes replacing water, wastewater and storm sewer lines, and adding new storm catch basins. As well the roads and curbs will be replaced, and a new sidewalk will be constructed on one side of each roadway.
"There is a mixture there of where there is sidewalking on the street for a couple of lots and then it stops, and then there is no sidewalk,” said Fraser. "Then there is a sidewalk again. It is not connected or linked and then there are spots where there is a block without sidewalks on both sides.”
To allow for the new continuous sidewalks on the north side of 41st Street and the east side of 49A Avenue, the road widths will be reduced from 12.7 metres to 11.5 metres.
Fraser said in his report to council the road width reduction would also better match design guidelines and achieve a balance between maintenance, snow removal and construction cost.
"The 11.5-metre width is more than adequate for two-way traffic and parking on both sides of the street and the reduced width allows room for a sidewalk on one side,” said Fraser.
As for the funding of the $2.6-million infrastructure project, the town is contributing $350,000 from reserves with the remaining $2.25 million coming from the provincial Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI).
Council was also told administration will coordinate with communications staff a strategy to advise affected residents along both roadways of the project’s purpose and potential impacts, as well as addressing any concerns that may arise.
Rod Fraser, the town's director of operations
"It's an older neighbourhood, kind of an older standard. This will modernize it (neighbourhood) so everything will be brand new, from property line to property line."
