There are plans in place to potentially rebuild a portion of Centre Street North in Mitchell next year.

Brian Esau is the Mitchell area Councillor for the Rural Municipality of Hanover. He says the state of Centre Street North was a very hot topic this spring as its condition was probably worse than any other street in Mitchell.

"This year we had a very tough spring," admits Esau.

He reiterates that Mitchell has a very high water table, which is a catalyst for the deterioration of Centre Street North. Esau says it was only a couple of years ago that they reconstructed that street. However, by this spring it was crumbling again.

In order to determine exactly what needs to be done to ensure that the road is not rebuilt every few years, Esau says they had some test holes drilled. As a result of those tests, they have identified a layer of sand that exists below the base. The water table is pushing up that sand and Esau says this is creating some of the issues. 

According to Esau, they now need to design a rebuild that will alleviate the water pressure into the ditches. He notes they would like to have a design plan in place by fall in order to determine the costs and then hopefully complete the rebuild in 2024.

"It will be a major project," notes Esau. 

The Councillor says the goal is to do the work as soon as possible next year. However, he points out that until they know the scope of the project and what it will cost, they are not guaranteeing that the work will happen. That is because they do not know yet what the project will cost. Esau says it will be funded through the Local Urban District of Mitchell's regular construction budget.

"But we don't have any numbers at this point in time," he says. "We first need to see the design and then we have to get a budget on it before we can make any decision as to whether to proceed or not."

Esau says the LUD wants to do its due diligence before throwing money at this project.

For those residents wondering what assurances they have that next year's potential rebuild of Centre Street North will be any different than any of the previous attempts, Esau says they have already done more homework this time around than in years past. 

"This year we took, and we got an engineering company to come and do drill test holes," he explains.

Esau says the stretch of Centre Street North they are looking to rebuild runs from Highway 52 to Walnut Avenue.