In a little over a week drivers can expect to be able to use the full run of River Street once again.

Project Engineer Mike Vogrig says the end is in sight despite some delays.

“We ran into some slow work periods at the end of August which we think could have been avoided so we are over schedule for sure, but it is nice to see it come into completion now.”

On May 5th of 2022, a sinkhole developed on the roadway, which upon further inspection was the result of a critical failure of a culvert, prompting a complete reconstruction of the roadway.

The city does inspections of all of its culverts and the previous inspection showed some corrosion but nothing that indicated the possibility of what unfolded, catching Vogrig and other members of the Engineering Department off guard.

“We knew they were approaching the end of lifespan, but it wasn’t something that was suggesting a sudden failure. It never got brought up by the inspectors as ‘You know this is something critical something could happen.’ So we were caught by surprise in the spring.”

That sudden surprise being flooding in several parts of the city, near creeks and rivers, and by extension the region, especially to the West.

The two culverts have now been placed with one larger culvert, and crews have nearly completed curb work, ahead of the installation of guardrails and paving.

Vogrig was unable to immediately provide a total cost for the project, due to some extras over the course of the job, specifically quantities of asphalt and backfill.

As of September 20th the section of River Street over McVicar Creek will have been closed for 503 days.