EAST CENTRAL — Multiple rural communities across the region have received funding for road work including the RMs of LeRoy, Colonsay, Lake Lenore and Pleasantdale.
This comes from the provincial Rural Integrated Roads for Growth program, which is now in its third phase. For the phase, 69 different rural municipalities are receiving a split of $25.7 million in funding for improvements.
The RM of LeRoy is receiving $272,525, which will be used to replace two large bridges with culverts on the LeRoy access road to Highway 6.
“The bridges were in bad condition and [weight] restricted recently, so the funding will be well received,” said Wendy Gowda, the RM’s administrator.
“There’s people that are pretty anxious that the road be put back to full weight, so they’ll be really happy to hear that there’s a plan.”
As a result of the weight restriction, Gowda said even small agriculture loads have had to detour around the bridge.
“We don’t have the agreements yet. We’re hoping the agreements will be in place and a design can be done, but realistically it could be a 2022 project by the time we get the paperwork and everything in order.”
The RM of Colonsay is receiving $386,398, which will be spent clay capping their heavy-haul road on the south end of the RM.
The road leads to a G3 grain elevator and is the main heavy-haul route through the municipality.
Randi Wood, the RM’s administrator, said a timeline is still to be discussed.
The RM of Lake Lenore is receiving $393,000, which will be spent on an MG30 upgrade for four miles of grid road 777 as well as about two-and-a-half miles of Grid Road 773, west of St. Brieux.
Jolynne Gallays, the RM’s administrator, said their choice to use MG30 as an alternative to clay capping was based on lack of access to affordable clay.
“We’re having difficulty finding clay, so we can’t do a clay cap on our roads,” Gallays said. “The surface has pretty much eroded away through the years, so we need to find a way to stabilize our roads and bind it all together and create a nice solid driving surface.”
A portion of Grid Road 777 is slated to be completed this summer, with 773 slated for next summer.
The RM of Lake Lenore previously received funding through phases one and two of the Rural Integrated Roads for Growth program which is going towards the first nine miles of grid road 777.
The RM of Pleasantdale is receiving $240,000, which will go towards clay capping for a little over three kilometres on their grid 777.
Work is expected to begin in 2022.
