As winter leaves, construction season begins in Queen City

As the snow plows go into hibernation, it’s now the street sweepers, pothole fillers and road workers time to shine.

Construction season has begun in the Queen City.

Norm Kyle, director of roadways and transportation with the City of Regina, said carryover projects from last year will be first on the list to be finished.

He adds most of those projects only require the final layer of paving, which shouldn’t take too long.

Kyle said a full list of the summers construction projects will be released soon; however, some drivers might already notice some big work being started on Regina’s fastest roadway.

“The one that may frustrate drivers a little bit, is we do have some work on the Ring Road again this year,” he said. “The service road bridges on Ring Road and Vic avenue need to be replaced and those will be done this summer and hopefully that’s it on Victoria Avenue for a few years.”

On Sunday, street sweeping started on main routes and Kyle hopes to be into residential streets come middle of May.

No parking signs will be put up prior to the city coming to clean the streets and Kyle said if you can move your vehicle, it guarantees the best cleaning job will be done.

“It’s important that we get all that sand and gravel off the road so it doesn’t damage the road or make it unsafe for motorists but also so that it doesn’t get into our waterways.”

As for potholes, Kyle said “lots of crews and lots of asphalt” will be used to fix them in Regina.

Kyle said the because of the dry weather last year followed by the freeze-thaw we had in the past couple of months, roads have taken quite a beating.

He said if you see a pothole that’s in desperate need of repair, to call Service Regina at 777-7000. If the pothole poses a significant risk or hazard, it will get bumped in priority.