Highway 693 in the RM of Shellbrook. (Submitted photo/Cliff Skauge)

By Ian Gustafson

Road Projects

Highway 693 will close Tuesday to replace culvert

Oct 26, 2020 | 12:00 PM

The RM of Shellbrook is informing the public Highway 693 between Highway 3 and the old highway north of Holbein will be temporarily closed on Tuesday, Oct. 27.

From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., crews will be working on Highway 693 to replace a culvert.

RM of Shellbrook councillor Cliff Skauge said the plan is to try to make a small opening in the pavement to replace it and then gravel over the opening until next summer.

“The current [culvert] is basically plugged off and we’ve been hoping to get it replaced for a couple years. And during the high water years, it was a problem and that’s one of the reasons the RM wants to get it done,” Skauge said. “Because we’re gonna have a really wet year again coming up no doubt.”

The replacement will help even out the water on both sides and keeps the water flowing through. With the current culvert, the water builds up higher on one side than the other, which he said is a risk to the road. An excavator will be involved in making the hole in the road and afterward, it will be filled with sand and gravel to hold the culvert.

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Sand and gravel to be used to keep culvert in place through to next summer. (Submitted photo/Cliff Skauge)

During the construction, there will be detour signs two miles east and west of Holbein on Highway 3 for the public to get to where they need to be.

“The traffic that’s coming from the west will be detoured north and there will be appropriate signs and traffic coming from Prince Albert or from the east will be detoured three miles east on a grid road,” Skauge said.

Skauge said the road is used a lot by residents daily including people going to Sturgeon Lake First Nation, Wildrose Public School, and people coming to and from work.

He explained the plan is to have the road reopened by 5 p.m., but if something delayed the construction, they would need the detour for longer.

“That’s the idea to try and have the work done so people can use it on their way home from work,” Skauge said.

The goal of the project is to maintain the road. After the culvert is replaced, he said they want to do more work on the road in the future.

“The longterm is to keep the water flow moving and hopefully the RM will be able to make some further improvements to the road surface,” he added.

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Ian.gustafson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @iangustafson12