A major road construction project will get started in Weyburn this week. Crews will be working on 5th Street between Prairie and Coteau Avenues. It will start with preparation on Tuesday and gets underway in earnest on Wednesday. The work will be a lot more than just resurfacing, though.  

“They’ll be removing the curbing and then they’re going to install new curb and gutter,” Jennifer Wilkinson, the Director of Engineering for the City of Weyburn explained about the first phase of the project. “They’ll be doing the west side first, and then they’ll move to the east side, but once they pour that, it can’t be driven on for two weeks so residents in the area have been informed that they will see parking lane closures as well as they will not have access to their driveways during that time.” 

During the time that residents will not be allowed to park on their street, or to have access to their driveway, they will have the ability to park on other streets in the area. The Weyburn Police Service is aware of this, however, the bylaw regarding parking on-street for more than 48 hours will still be in effect. As well, Wilkinson reminded residents who do park on another street during this part of the project that they can’t block other driveways.  

After the gutters and curbs are done, then the road surface will be next.  

“This is a significant amount of work, especially because of not only having to get the concrete pour, but then it has a two-week set time and then they will be completely rebuilding this area,” Wilkinson added. “SO that means that they will be taking the road right down to the base and having to build it back up then pave it. So, we’re expecting to see delays in this area for probably a couple of months.” 

The project on 5th Street is one of many that are planned in the coming years as the city works to revitalize its infrastructure. There are a number of projects that are planned, including work on replacing water mains under the streets and then rebuilding the road above it the following year. With that in mind, there will be some other work such as underground inspections to find out what will be needed to be done.  

“This is the start of our infrastructure revitalization program,” Wilkinson concluded.