Saskatchewan Drive from Main Street East. (Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Sask Drive Repaving

Saskatchewan Drive in Melfort to be repaved

May 17, 2019 | 12:01 PM

Saskatchewan Drive in Melfort will be receiving a makeover this summer.

Beginning on Tuesday, May 21, work will begin on the major Melfort road as the city repaves a stretch ranging from Anderson Avenue on the west, to about the train tracks on the east side, or Shadd Drive that runs north and south.

City Manager Ryan Danberg said it will be a step-by-step process to have the road completely repaved.

“It is going to happen rather quickly,” Danberg told northeastNOW. “We’re going to have work crews on site doing some water line replacement prior to the resurfacing project beginning. So, over the next six weeks, the work will be done.”

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Saskatchewan Drive from Main Street West. (Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

The city has been looking to resurface that road for a while now, and thanks to the Urban Highway Connector Program, they have received funding to help with it. Danberg said the resurfacing will be a welcome site for drivers in Melfort.

“It’s very exciting because this fund isn’t a large fund,” he said. “So, not many municipalities are getting assistance year over year. So this is really big news for us as a community and it’s certainly going to bode well for the new road.”

After crews get the water line replacement done, they will need to tear up some of the concrete. That will then be followed by the pouring of new concrete before paving gets done. While a large amount of work is expected over the timeline, Danberg doesn’t expect any closures at this point in time except for the intersection of Saskatchewan Drive and Broadway Avenue on Tuesday, May 21.

“Over the course of the next six weeks, there is definitely going to be some traffic disruption,” Danberg said. “But the professionals that are hired to do this job are in the business of routing traffic so we don’t expect any major delays of any kind.”

According to the City of Melfort, the total cost of the project exceeds $3 million. The city’s bill will run about $1.3 million which was mentioned in this year’s budget. The Urban Highway Connector Program covers 75 per cent of certain pieces of the project.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6