Main Street reconstruction in Morris

The reconstruction of Main Street in Morris will result in a change to the route for Saturday's parade. Mayor Gavin van der Linde says it's always a difficult task to divert traffic during the morning of the Manitoba Stampede Parade but this year that challenge is compounded by the fact Main Street is being completely rebuilt. Mayor van der Linde says "the good news is that it's busy being worked on." He says Main Street reconstruction has been one of the main questions asked to him in the last five years. "I feel like I've been promising people that for awhile so it's always good when I can tell them it is actually happening. But it's going to get worse before it gets better."

Main Street is right now down to two lanes. Both north and southbound traffic is primarly using the east lanes through town. Mayor van der Linde says crews are "going to start pouring concrete soon and we're going to start seeing a nice new highway develop out of that."

But because of the reconstruction, Saturday's parade route will change significantly. It's moving one block west. The parade will run down Lucinda Street from Montreal Avenue to MacMillan Street. The staging area for the parade will be done along Wellington Street and Victoria Avenue and Railroad Avenue if need be.

The 48th annual Manitoba Stampede and Exhibition Parade is Saturday beginning at 10am.

Mayor van der Linde says reconstruction of Main Street has certainly impacted local businesses "but the community has been pretty good with supporting the businesses and for those people who do regularly access the businesses on 75, there are always accesses from the side roads and we just encourage people to keep visiting the places they always have."