Construction on a road in the RM of Ste. Anne is nearing completion after nearly two decades.

After between fifteen and twenty years and an estimated $100,000 to $200,000, the residents living along Kropp Road, located southeast of Richer, will have their road upgraded.

The roadway required a realigning and widening to make it possible for proper maintenance year-round.

It was just not high enough on our list of priorities, offers Reeve Paul Saindon, “it’s a dead-end road, servicing half a dozen people and it’s always been passable, but not easily maintained.”

Explaining the lag in construction Saindon says, “If you’re planning on doing construction, you don’t want to waste material and then tear it up again. So, they have been left with a less than satisfactory road, and we need to address that”.

The construction involves moving hydro and MTS lines. “We are buying some property from the ones that are adjacent to the road at fair market value,” explains Saindon. “You’re taking away some of their front yard, so it has to be compensated.”

The Reeve notes that the construction was never an immediate concern and, as a result, the funding has been gradually meted out. “It’s always been to the side there,” says Saindon, “ready to be done.”

The decision to complete the construction was insisted on by the new council in anticipation of the multi-million dollar lagoon expansion set to begin this summer.  According to Saindon “it’s one of the bigger projects that the RM has taken on over the last number of years”.

When asked if the Kropp Road construction will be completed this summer Saindon said, “It’d better be”.