Visitors to Portage la Prairie will soon get a new first impression when coming into the City from the west side, and that has the President of the Portage and District Chamber of Commerce smiling.

Guy Moffat says it's not just the roadwork that is helping the area. He believes business owners are putting new paint on their buildings and sprucing up their storefronts.

"When you drive down Saskatchewan Avenue, you see a lot of really modern, nice, attractive-looking businesses, which is fantastic for people coming to shop here, as well as people doing business here," says Moffat. "I know some of those cleanups were done through the Storefront Improvement Grant that the Chamber of Commerce and the City worked together on."

Looking at the roadwork, a lot is being done, and crews are close to moving to the other side of the street. According to the latest update provided to the Chamber, crews will pave from 7th Street, moving west, which will cause some closures.

"What I see is that there's going to be a closure around 8th Street, which is going to hurt a little bit, because that is a very busy intersection," says Moffat. "The good news is that the paving is going to be done there, after the several days of closing, and they're going to be removing the gravel ramps as they get asphalt through those intersections."

In the first stage, crews will pave from 7th to just before 12th. Once that section is done, they will pave 12th to 15th. This ensures that when 8th is closed, 12th is open, and vice versa.

The westbound side is on track to be finished by the end of the month, meaning all traffic will be switched to the other side just after the September Long Weekend. The eastbound traffic will move to the north side at 15th Street. The excavation of the south (eastbound) side at 13th heading to 7th will happen at that time. Should weather cooperate, they will complete up to 7th before doing 13th to the 20th.

 

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