Downtown Selkirk will be given a makeover this spring, with major construction planned for roadways and sidewalks.
Eveline Street, a main route for people in Selkirk, will see a $7.2-million upgrade, according to Selkirk’s chief administrative officer Duane Nicol, and will begin this month.
“We’re rebuilding seven city blocks of road, sidewalk and boulevard all at once. It’s the largest single city street rebuild in Selkirk in decades – if not ever,” Nicol said in a Selkirk news release.
“The roadway was notified as being in poor condition after an assessment and in need of a complete rebuild.”
It’s expected to improve safety for drivers and pedestrians and make streets more accessible, creating sidewalks level with businesses’ entryways.
It will also connect the streets to active transportation pathways and sidewalks from Selkirk Park to shopping on West Manitoba Avenue.
Details of construction plans include pedestrian peninsulas at intersections. The goal is to make pedestrians more visible to traffic and reduce the distance to walk from each side of the street, especially beneficial for those with mobility issues.
Detectable tiles will also be included, for those with visual impairments.
Construction will also take place on the waterfront, with improved, accessible sidewalks made from Eveline to the York boat statue.
A traffic circle will be installed at the entranceway to Selkirk Park, the first in the city.
“I know that people have wanted safer walking options for years, so this delivers on something that is important to the community and it is aligned with our new Active Transportation Strategy,” Larry Johannson, the mayor of Selkirk, said in the news release.
The city will also spend $800,000 from the federal and provincial governments’ Investigating in Canada Infrastructure Program grant to plant trees along the street.
The project’s start date, originally 2021, was pushed back due to the Manitoba Hydro strike. Hydro was scheduled to move overhead wires along the main street and put them underground.
The work is set to be completed in October 2022.