THUNDER BAY – Travelling north-south in Thunder Bay, and vice-versa, just got a little tougher.
Weeks after construction work on Balmoral Street began, the city on Thursday began ripping up a section of Memorial Avenue, between Central Avenue and Second Avenue, reducing the major arterial road to a single lane in each direction.
The project is expected to take up to five weeks to complete, weather permitting.
Project engineer Matthew Miedema said it’s part of the city’s plan to maintain major routes within Thunder Bay.
“The work is asphalt resurfacing, so we’re removing the asphalt pavement and then we’re going to resurface it with two layers of asphalt,” Miedema said.
“Under the city’s pavement management system, this section of Memorial came up for resurfacing. It’s to buy us more time before we have to do a full reconstruction. It’s part of our asset management plan to seen when we need to invest dollars into major arterials. With the traffic volume on here, it was time to resurface it.”
Miedema asked motorists to have patience, and where possible, use a different route.
“During this time, to accommodate construction, we have reduced the lanes on Memorial Avenue to one lane in each direction, so traffic will take longer to get through this construction zone,” he said.
“So we ask drivers, if you can, detour around construction zones. There are adjoining streets you can use to access the businesses, like McDonnell behind us. Please be patient and respectful of the workers in the area.”
Balmoral construction is taking place between Alloy Drive and Beverly Street, work that was originally scheduled for 2021, but shelved due to budget constraints.
It includes excavation and grading, asphalt removal and paving, asphalt multi-use trails, street lighting, curb and gutter construction, and storm sewer installation.
