First Street SW, west of Division Avenue, will be the site of more utility and road construction in 2019.--NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT
Medicine Hat News
A well-used route to and from downtown that was shut down this past summer will again be closed next summer for water and sewer line work, a city committee heard this week.
First Street SW, west of Division Avenue, was shut down for months this past summer when gas line work was unexpectantly complex.
New work next year is seemingly at odds with a standing policy at the city for construction planning to bundle pipe and sewer work on the same stretch of road work together to save money and avoid disruption in multiple years.
In the case of First Street, say administrators, such a plan just wouldn’t have worked.
“We simply couldn’t accomplish all the work and maintain access to the residences — it just wasn’t possible,” said municipal works general manager Dwight Brown.
“We co-ordinate all the work together if we can to do it all in one year, but when we can’t it’s staggered.”
This year, city crews removed and replaced gas mains in the Zero to 300 Blocks of First Street SW, and even ran into delays when schematics of the historic piping system didn’t match what was in the ground.
Brown said they did accomplish aligning the new pipes on one side of the road, which makes room for new water, sewer and storm lines that will be put in place in 2019.
In the meantime, the original road is being left as is until it is replaced entirely as the final stage of next year’s workplan.
“It doesn’t look finished because it’s not finished,” said Brown, adding the final smooth road surface will be installed after the current road is dug up next summer.
There is no specific timeline for the project, which falls under both the municipal works and environmental utilities department.
