As Infrastructure rebuild goes into motion; Community Challenges to be memorialized around Prince Rupert

A forever memorial to our challenges of infrastructure 
will see similar pieces of pipe as above placed at key
areas around the community

As the City of Prince Rupert prepares to spend over 187 million dollars towards its long serving, but failing infrastructure, the city will be taking measures to commemorate the resilience of the community and the work of civic staffers during these last few years.

Plans for Six memorial public art statues, are in development, the sites to be selected a mixture of high traffic areas for public viewing; along with some which will be placed in pivotal points of the city's infrastructure rebuild from west to east across Prince Rupert. The City will be harvesting the required pipes for the memorials from the actual infrastructure dig that will soon be underway, funding of the public art program likely through a mix of Legacy and Tourism accounts.

Remembrance is key to the program which has been in development since the City received the last piece of the funding program from the Federal Government last month, that money from Ottawa the final piece of the massive rebuild ahead for the community, which also incudes Provincial money and the city's own borrowing.

It has been determined that the first of the Five locations for the placement of similar pieces to the giant piece of pipe that sits on the table in the City Hall Chamber will be adjacent to the statue of Charles Hays just east of City Hall. That providing a permanent reminder for residents, council members and staff of the importance of a continued focus on the maintenance and replacement of the network of pipes that keep the city running.

Look for another statue at the entrance to Pacific Mariner's Memorial Park, part of the planning for that community gathering space and a location chosen for the high visibility the statues will receive. The location one that the city anticipates will also make for a tourism draw and one which will be much chronicled through social media, adjacent as it is to the Prince Rupert Cruise terminal.

Further to the west, the Pull out along Park Avenue just up from the BC Ferry Terminal and the east entrances to the Fairview Container port will provide a reminder of the challenges of the past and the less stress filled future that will come for Prince Rupert.

Of the final three locations chosen, all have an important placement as both a salute to the city workers and contractors who have kept the city's on the cusp of collapse water system functioning for these last few years. The pieces designed both as tribute to their work and the promise to them never to let the system get to the state of disrepair again. 

On Frederick Street and Applewaite a statue will be placed adjacent to the pump house area, the plaque that will be part of the display will take note of the efforts of October 2022 in the civic battle to save the reservoir, a time when as Mayor Pond noted, the community came close to Armageddon.  McBride and Third West is the other spot for the salute to civic workers, with the McBride Street work of 2022 serving as the first symbol of the massive rebuild to come for the years ahead.

Last on the list will be a memorial statute placed at the old Welcome to Prince Rupert sign at the Highway 16 turn off to the Industrial Park, this statue is one to celebrate the future, the location chosen as it overlooks the crossing to Woodworth Lake where the city's water supply will be delivered through the rebuilt network in the years ahead.

Start times for the memorial project will be timed to coincide with progress on the various elements of the water line rebuild with the City Hall art piece the first to be put in place once the big digs begin.  The two public areas of Mariner's Park and Park Avenue pullout will be next; followed by the three pieces focused on the project as it evolves. A community celebration is planned following the installation of the last one as part of the new RCMP detachment,  placed at what will be known as the Gateway to the downtown at Third Avenue and McBride.