SUNDRE – The municipality has emerged from wintertime doldrums and is now in the throes of construction season.
Traffic along the Highway 27-Main Avenue corridor has recently been impacted while crews work to finish the project started by the town last year to upgrade aging underground water, sewer and storm pipes ahead of further construction planned by Transportation and Economic Corridors next summer.
The province’s portion of the major project to complete the overlay that will involve the installation of permanent mini-roundabouts as well as a new set of traffic lights on the east side of the Red Deer River bridge at the intersection with Highway 760, or the Bergen Road, is now scheduled for 2025 after Transportation and Economic Corridors announced last year that the originally announced timeline for this season had been postponed.
And another crew was also working on 2nd Avenue NW – the road that runs past the arena, curling rink and Aquaplex as well as the local schools – to repair the pavement following some past wintertime water main leak excavations, Jim Hall, Sundre’s operations manager, told the Albertan.
That effort also involved repairing a swale at the intersection of Centre Street and Second Avenue NW for water drainage, added Hall.
Additionally, there are also plans to “do some surface prep on some of the de-laminated pavement by the Sundre High School area to allow for a good preparation for this summer’s micro surfacing,” he said, describing that method as an alternative to outright re-paving a road while still providing an extended 10- to 15-year lifespan.
“We are preparing to complete curb, gutter and sidewalk from the arena parking lot to the new outdoor rink,” he said, adding that work will also include two pedestrian crossing lights at both Sundre High and River Valley schools.
With the exception of the micro-surfacing, all of the work is expected to be completed by mid-June, he said, adding the former should be commencing either by the end of July or perhaps in August.
Furthermore, at another section over by Snake Hill, the municipality installed 500 metres of water main to ensure proper supply looping for residents west of the Sundre Rodeo Grounds. That approach alleviated the higher cost of replacing the water main under Second Avenue NW, he said.
Meanwhile, the overhaul of underground infrastructure along the Highway 27-Main Avenue corridor is expected to be finished in early- to mid-June depending on weather and barring unexpected issues, he said.
