‘The No. 1 issue’: Regina receives $6.4 million to help with road renewal

While COVID-19 might force some projects to be delayed, Regina’s roads won’t fall by the wayside thanks to some new provincial funding.

The Saskatchewan government announced Friday the City of Regina would be getting $6.4 million from its Municipal Economic Enhancement Program (MEEP).

MEEP was announced in March and is providing about $150 million for municipalities across the province to support investments in infrastructure, stimulate economic recovery and encourage local job creation. Regina is set to get $30.9 million from the program in total.

Regina Mayor Michael Fougere discusses the provincial government’s funding for residential road renewal on Sept. 18, 2020. (Britton Gray/980 CJME)

“(Roads) are the No. 1 issue for Regina residents and city council. We set aside one per cent of our mill rate every year for the past five or six years to a dedicated fund to work on those roads and different ways to do repairs,” Mayor Michael Fougere said at a media event.

“We needed a lot of work to do. Our soil with clay makes it very difficult to maintain these roads in a way we’d all like to have them. This is important for us. This investment allows us to accelerate a lot more work we can do.”

The money will go towards ensuring the city can stay on schedule with its road repairs and not have to delay projects due to COVID-19.

Nine road projects will benefit from the funds in 2021. Fougere said the money will go to next year’s projects since the 2020 construction season is winding down.

“We didn’t have any projects that were delayed or any cost overruns (in 2020),” he said. “We had a list of work to do, we got the work done and we kept them under budget.”

The city is also expecting to receive funds from the Safe Restart Program, which is money from the province and money given to the province by the federal government.

“This is really about the country heading to economic recovery and the basis for transfers from the province and the federal government allows that to happen. That pool of money is desperately needed to get our economy going again,” Fougere said.

Saskatchewan has reached six months since the lockdown first occurred due to COVID-19.

“I’m very cautiously optimistic of how Saskatchewan, in particular Regina residents, have been responding to COVID. Our numbers are down and we’ve seen across the country there has been a spike everywhere but in Saskatchewan, generally speaking, we’re doing well,” Fougere said.

The list of the nine projects are:

• Rebuild Academy Park Road;
• Rebuild Calder Crescent;
• Rebuild Chisholm Road from Shannon Road to Grant Road;
• Rebuild Fourth Avenue North from Garnet Street to Retallack Street;
• Rehabilitate Magee Crescent;
• Rehabilitate Centennial Street from Pells Drive to Kramer Boulevard;
• Rehabilitate Kutarna Crescent;
• Rehabilitate Willowview Street from Oakview Drive to Elmview Road; and,
• Rehabilitate McTavish Street from Dewdney Avenue to Fourth Avenue.

A number of projects will benefit from MEEP funding. Those include:

• Roof replacements — $1.5 million;
• Residential roads — $6.4 million;
• Energy monitoring and authorization infrastructure — $700,000;
• New outdoor rink — $700,000;
• Wascana Pool — $12 million;
• Municipal justice building — $7.5 million;
• New sidewalks — $500,000;
• Multi-use pathway — Just under $1 million; and,
• Pavement and parking markings — $700,000.