WINNIPEG — The reconstruction of St. James Street beside Polo Park shopping centre has been rescheduled until next year because of a Manitoba Hydro scheduling issue.
The stretch of St. James between Maroons Road and Portage Avenue was slated for repairs this year.
However, Manitoba Hydro has been unable to relocate a transformer so that roadwork could begin.
“It’s very frustrating and to me it’s unacceptable, it should never happen that way,” said Mike Mager, president and CEO of CAA Manitoba.
The crown corporation needs to gain access to private property but hasn’t been able to work with the out-of-province land owner, “We have been in touch but we haven’t secured the easement, like I say it’s been difficult to connect in this particular case,” said Scott Powell with Manitoba Hydro.
St. James has been a perennial contender for top spot in CAA Manitoba’s worst roads campaign where Manitobans vote on which roadways they think are the worst to drive on.
Mager said there’s been plenty of time to work out these issues so that the reconstruction of St. James could take place, “”Who’s at the helm? who’s steering the ship. This is not like something that just came up yesterday, we’ve known this for four or five years,” he said.
READ MORE: Local business impacted by poor condition of St. James Street
Millions of dollars have been poured into redeveloping roads in the Polo Park area to improve traffic follow and create smoother streets.
The city said construction will begin in early May, 2017.
When the work is finished, the street will have new pavement, curbs, sidewalks and a median with turning lanes.
The area’s city councillor Scott Gillingham said even if Manitoba Hydro was able to get access to the private land, there wouldn’t be time to finish the work this year.
“I want construction-related disruption to be kept to a minimum for local businesses, customers and employees … I am supportive of delaying the start of road construction until the spring of 2017, rather than late 2016, so that road work will be limited to the one construction season,” he wrote in a statement emailed to Global News.