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| The work site has expanded on McBride as the City continues its work addressing a water-main failure under the main arterial road |
Two excavators have expanded the footprint of the current work along a stretch of McBride, with the pavement now coming up pretty well for the entire length of the area between Third Avenue East and Fifth Street now, that as work on the city's water-main infrastructure continues forward.
So far there has been no follow up advisory from the City since their first notice on June 7th of the Road Closure requirements and the start of the water-main work.
While we wait for an update, we've checked back into the archives to see some of the history of work for the city's main arterial road.
And if you think that it seems that McBride is always in some form of repair, you may not be too off in your belief.
The work underway this week on McBride is just the latest effort put into the street that is perhaps the most heavily travelled avenue in the city. With work taking place pretty well along every block over recent years as the city's aging infrastructure continues to offer challenges for the city's Operations Department.
A look back at some of the recent work over the last five years is found below:
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| Summer of 2020 |
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| Summer of 2019 |
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| Summer of 2018 |
Should the current work continue towards the end of the month, McBride street and its lengthy list of work could make for a conversation piece for Mayor Lee Brain's farewell 'State of the City presentation" for city residents.
Mr. Brain has invited residents to the Lester Centre on June 28th at 7 PM with the promise of a 'ton of new information' to present for those who attend.
Back at the start of the mayor's time in office, the city had launched an initiative known as Re:Build Rupert and at the time there was much in the way of plans for frequent updates on the nature of the work ahead to address the aging infrastructure issues.
Though as the years have moved forward, the Rebuild Rupert project signs and the updates for those projects seemed to become less and less frequent occurrences.
It's probably a safe bet, that infrastructure will number among those items on the 'Challenges' side of the ledger when the June 28th presentation takes place.
You can review some of the city's ongoing work on infrastructure from our archive page.
The residents of Prince Rupert are lucky. Just imagine if the waterline in front of Sannich went during our cold snap in December/ January. The sections of waterline that have not been replaced could go at any time June the 7th is proof. City engineering should be in front of council at the next meeting. Council could then ask the city, What's the plan?
ReplyDeleteRight now there does not appear to be one.
No more of these big 2030 plans, until some of the larger problems are fixed. Enough already!
ReplyDeleteThe mayor is going to lay out plans for the future. I can forecast potential problems with the forecast. The new RCMP station is being worked on. Demolition of the old Dairy Queen structure is underway in the middle of summer. Bang! The waterline in front of the courthouse along McBride blows. If you think the current closing at McBride and 4th East is challenging imagine my forecast. Close 2 lanes at the courthouse. It will be a mess large trucks unable to turn right onto McBride from 2nd.
ReplyDeleteAdd into the above scenario a pedestrian mall at the foot of 3rd and McBride. The planned pedestrian mall doesn’t make allowance for any upset in current traffic flow. The water leaks are a perfect example. The pedestrian mall doesn't make sense.
The mayor and his team have visions. Sometimes the visions don’t take into account reality. It would be nice if the speech on June 28th included a realistic look at where we are now and how to fix current problems. Any further decisions on plans should be made along with funding plans by the new mayor and council.
Well your worst case scenario is a rather Lemony Snicket listing of a series of potential unfortunate events ... But I do think your last sentence should be the guiding plan for the current council; the next four months are mostly a maintenance mode period and somewhat of a lame duck council period, any future spending plans probably should made be under the next one to be elected. NCR
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