Rebuild begins on Road 31E

A one-mile stretch of Road 31E will be under construction for the next couple of weeks.

Rob Driedger is Manager of Engineering and Utilities for the Rural Municipality of Hanover. He explains they are rebuilding one mile of Road 31E, south of Mitchell, between Road 33N and Road 34N.

Driedger explains this project will kick off their road construction season in Hanover, noting it is one of the roads that was identified in Hanover's five-year capital plan.

According to Driedger, that road sees a lot of traffic. 

"(It) has never been built to the type of standard that it would probably need to be to handle the traffic that it sees on a daily basis," explains Driedger. "So it has made its way up to the top of the list and this is the year that it's going to get done."

Driedger explains they are doing a complete rebuild, though it will be left as a gravel surface. He says the contractor will be doing a full excavation of approximately two feet, then placing geotextile, sub-base and base. 

Driedger anticipates the full excavation will begin on Tuesday and the entire project should take between two and three weeks to complete. 

During construction, only local traffic will be permitted. Driedger says they will be rerouting traffic to adjacent side roads.

"The contractor will allow emergency services to come through the construction zone or anyone that absolutely needs to," he notes. "But we would ask that most motorists avoid this area."

The work is being done by Diamond Construction. Driedger says the cost of the project is $475,000.

Credit: RM of Hanover