A sheared water main last Friday led to rippling of the newly laid pavement, creating further construction on First Avenue West in Prince Albert. (OK Tire/Facebook)

By Trevor Redden

Dig Delays

Local businesses impacted but understanding of roadwork delays

Sep 16, 2020 | 11:29 AM

The replacement of a 120-year-old water main in Prince Albert has led to some unexpected delays, but the impacted businesses have been understanding of the necessary work.

A project originally expected to take seven weeks on First Ave. W between 15^th and 17^th Streets will now take approximately nine weeks thanks in part to weather delays and a shearing of a water main at the end of last week.

According to Nykol Miller, city of P.A. capital projects manager, there is always a risk when excavating around and connecting to existing infrastructure, which can lead to issues like this. She expects this to be resolved soon.

“Our roadway contractor is completing the last portion of concrete, and they’re doing the repairs that were a result of the water main shear. And then they will be installing the base and completing the roadway paving,” Miller said. She noted the estimated completion is next Wednesday.

Miller understands the difficulty this project imposes on local businesses, and she recognized them for their understanding.

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“I know that both our city staff and the contractors have been working with the businesses to provide access as much as we can to all the businesses to make sure they still have access remaining,” Miller explained. “We would like to thank the businesses for their patience during this project.”

One of the impacted businesses has been OK Tire, with roadwork preventing large trucks and semis from accessing the lot.

Owner and operator Colin Fraser made sure to recognize the city for taking care of a necessary project, despite the impact he’s felt.

“Certainly it’s frustrating, there’s no question about it. It’s had a fairly substantial impact on our business, but at the end of the day the infrastructure was the oldest in the city and had to get repaired,” Fraser said.

With the maintenance nearly complete last week, Fraser was shocked by what he saw after the water main sheared on Friday and led to it all being dug up again.

“I came back to work [in the morning] and the pavement was all rippled and it was something I’ve never seen in my life,” Fraser explained. “[The water] came down the hill, and probably so much pressure that it came right up through the pavement.”

Despite the interruption, the biggest concern for the tire shop is to be back to full access in time for winter change over season, which should happen barring no further setbacks. Fraser expects business to pick up ahead of winter in the next three to four weeks.

Across the street at B&P Water Shop, it’s been a similar situation. Owner Darren Byers said business has taken a hit.

“Our walk-in is down about 50 per cent,” Byers said.

Despite that, he understands the importance of the work, and has no issues with the way it’s been handled.

“The city and B&B [Concrete] have been pretty accommodating, so I can’t complain about that. It had to be done,” Byers detailed before explaining what the city did to help his business out.

“They made us a couple different alternate accesses in here, and we’re just using the back alley through our compound right now. They left a lane open the last couple weeks,” he said.

The project is one of six utility digs scheduled by the city this year, with two now completed and two others currently under construction. This is the only one of the six taking place in an industrial zone and therefore impacting business.

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trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden