THUNDER BAY — For the first time since May, vehicular traffic is moving again along Cumberland Street through the intersection with Red River Road.
The intersection was reopened late last week, but there's more work to be done on Red River Road between Cumberland and Court Street, and crews are hoping for a continuation of favourable weather as they race to finish the current stage of the $13 million north core streetscape project.
Under a best-case scenario, city officials felt in July they might be able to reopen Red River Road by the end of October, but that's proved not to be the case.
Project engineer Brian Newman indicated Monday that it will likely be a few more weeks.
"We're still working on the north side of the road, on the decorative paver sidewalk. I'm hoping it will all be done, worst case, by the end of the week, and then – for however long the weather holds up – we want to start doing the road pavers from Cumberland towards St. Paul and farther up to Court."
But Newman feels a realistic goal is to get all the sidewalk done and the concrete paver work done as far as St. Paul Street.
"So that section could be reopened, and then we'll prep it so that the rest of the road can be reopened just based on the concrete condition it's in. I'm going to say it will all be opened by the third week in November. If the weather's great, we're just going to keep working. The BIA [Business Improvement Area] wants us to keep going. We're just going to keep putting down pavers to get as much of the road done itself."
Newman said the city is keeping in regular contact with the BIA, and that businesses are encouraging the city to continue working as long as possible into the fall, in order reduce the length of any disruptions along Red River Road next spring.
"It's going to be an evolving story, week by week," he said.
