Mitchell planning for rebuild of Centre Street North

There is a chance that Centre Street North in Mitchell will be rebuilt this year.

Brad Kehler is Chair of the Local Urban District (LUD) committee of Mitchell. Kehler says together with the Rural Municipality of Hanover, they are in the planning stages of rebuilding that roadway, which has long been a sore spot for residents and motorists.

Rob Driedger is Manager of Engineering and Utilities for the RM of Hanover. He says if this project goes through, it will be one of the larger ones in the municipality in 2024. 

Driedger says the project is valued at approximately $1.6 million and includes more than just reconstructing Centre Street North. Driedger says if approved, they will rebuild that road, beginning at Highway 52 and including a portion of Market Avenue. The project will include bringing the roadway to a higher elevation, installing subdrains, regrading the ditches, adding land drainage sewers and new culverts and then adding a new asphalt surface. 

The project will also include adding a concrete sidewalk along the entire west side of Centre Street to the baseball diamonds and rebuilding all accesses coming onto Centre Street from the side streets. 

Following that work, Driedger says they will add a sidewalk connection from Centre Street to Birchwood Lane and a sidewalk connection down Oakview Avenue to Elm Street. And finally, he says crews will install a concrete swale along the south ditch of Walnut Avenue from Centre Street to Elm Street. 

Driedger explains that this project would alleviate the need to continually resurface Centre Street North every few years. 

"We're looking at a full urbanization," he says. 

Driedger says Centre Street North specifically from Market Avenue to Oakview Avenue was recently identified as an area that has a deep underlying sand layer that is very susceptible to artesian groundwater pressure. 

"Therefore, in the design of this urbanization, the engineering firm of SBC (Sison Blackburn Consulting Inc.) designed a subdrain system that can intercept and redirect that water directly to the adjacent ditches and keep the subbase from being compromised going forward."

Kehler says if approved, this will be a multi-funded project.

"This project is a long overdue necessity for the community," adds Kehler.

He says they will utilize numerous streams to fund this, noting dedicated funds for capital projects both in 2023 and 2024 have been diverted into this rebuild. In addition, they will withdraw money from the LUD reserve. Kehler says they have also requested grant application money from the Province of Manitoba. And finally, he says they will use a local improvement debenture to pay for this endeavour. 

For those questioning why this project would be funded by all properties within the LUD of Mitchell, and not only those physically connected to that street, Hanover Councillor Brian Esau says it is because Centre Street North is an arterial road that services the residential streets as well as the baseball diamonds and soccer fields.

"It's a major road leading out of the community going to Steinbach," adds Esau.

He notes in the past, major arterial roads have been funded by the entire LUD, as was the case with Centre Street South back in 2018.