Even though city hall considers the Manitoba Expressway to be in fair condition, it still plans to pursue an upgrade project there through the provincial Urban Highway Connector Program (UHCP).
During its July 25 regular meeting, city council voted unanimously to support city hall’s submission of an expression of interest to the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure (MHI) under the UHCP for a pavement remediation project on the expressway from 11th Avenue Northeast to Corsterphine Avenue, including both eastbound and westbound lanes.
Council also agreed to meet all legislated standards, meet the terms and conditions of the program, conduct an open tender process, manage the project’s construction, fund the municipal share of the project, fund ongoing operation and maintenance costs and follow any environmental mitigation measures as required by federal or provincial legislation.
The City of Moose Jaw joined the UHCP in 2015, while this past March, the municipality and ministry signed a new agreement to extend services to 2027.
City hall’s engineering department reviewed several locations throughout the community to create a pavement condition rating for each location, a city council report explained. The department identified the Manitoba Expressway as the next suitable candidate for remediation.
The municipality considers the expressway a minor connector collector road that has pavement in fair condition, with intermittent moderate cracking and intermittent slight to moderate “alligatoring,” the report continued. The rideability is considered fair with slightly rough and uneven patches.
Meanwhile, the municipality and ministry have agreed that the city will pave the intersection of Main Street North and Thatcher Drive in 2023 using ministry funding.
“This work was not completed in 2022 by MHI due to high costs of working associated with milling around curbs,” the report said.
The ministry plans to work on Highway 363/Ninth Avenue Southwest next year and will recommend the project to the new minister of highways in September, the report continued. Upon approval, the ministry will propose to include the project in the 2023-24 provincial budget, to be announced next winter.
Assuming these steps are successfully taken, the ministry will undertake the project next year, the report added.
“That’s exciting (upgrading Highway 363/Ninth Avenue SW) because that area of the valley is in pretty dire shape,” city manager Jim Puffalt said during the meeting.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Aug. 8.
