Motorists accessing the big box retailers' plaza in Portage la Prairie from 18th Street NW won't have to worry about travelling over gravel anymore.

Work to pave 18th Street NW — north of the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks to Park Drive — was completed over the weekend. City councillor Melissa Draycott, Chair of the Transportation Committee, says improvements to the rail crossing surface are also complete, although crossing arms still need to be installed at a later date. Additional gravel shoulder work along 18th Street NW is also ongoing, as well as wiring street lights installed alongside the roadway.

"In the past couple of years we have had some major improvements to that area of town," Draycott says. "There are some commercial properties available there and we would really like to see more improvements to allow properties to be utilized in that area."

"It is now a smoother ride and it's a great street to have paved there because we have seen quite a bit of traffic on that street since we extended Park Drive out to the Walmart area."

According to Draycott, the 18th Street NW paving program and rail crossing upgrades are funded through the city's general reserve ($124,500), the Municipal Road Improvement Program ($124,500) and the federal government/CP Rail ($252,000).