The prioritization of projects, and the downloading of services were issues raised by Portage City Council last night, as they discussed proposed upgrades to the railway crossing at 8th Street North West. Transportation Chair Melissa Draycott discussed the improvements during last night's committee meeting, outlining a proposal to upgrade the crossing control warning system to a constant time warning system. The motion discussed estimated the cost of the project to be $415,125, with the city covering 25 per cent of the cost up to $103,781,25, while Transport Canada would cover 50 per cent, and CP Rail would cover the remaining 25 per cent.

While Council recently improved similar upgrades to a CN Rail crossing, there were some questions surrounding this project. The city had set aside funding for improvements to the 18th Street North West crossing, which is currently only controlled by lights, but no crossing arms. Meanwhile the 8th Street crossing is controlled by a total of four crossing arms. Draycott says moving forward with this project would mean taking funding away from their preferred work, which has yet to be approved by Transport Canada.

"The idea behind this is that this money is already in our budget for a railroad crossing upgrade. However, we could shift it from 18th Street, which doesn't have Transport Canada approval at this time, and move it to 8th Street. What you'll see in two weeks is a recommendation to a cap, because that's how much we have budgeted."

Mayor Irvine Ferris also had some questions during the discussion. He feels because the 18th Street project lacks Transport Canada approval, they don't have much choice but to move forward. However, he feels the crossing at 18th should be a higher priority.

"This is not the project Council had envisioned. We had allocated money for improving the crossing at 18th Street. That street has a new paved route that goes into the Wal Mart area, and a new active transportation path."

The way the funding was split was also an issue raised during the meeting. Ferris notes prior to April, 2013, Transport Canada would cover a much higher portion of the cost, with the municipal government only responsible for 12.5 per cent.

"It was three or four years ago that Transport Canada cut their funding. At one time they funded about 80 per cent of the cost, and now they're only funding 50 per cent. It's a fairly pricey item. I'm not sure what benefits we'll see from it, a little bit more safety is what we're told."

Ferris also notes Council would once again need to budget for the 18th Street upgrades, if they use the current budgeted funding for the proposed 8th Street crossing work. A decision on the recommendation will be made at the next council meeting.