MEDICINE HAT, AB — Construction continues downtown along South Railway Street.
Crews reopened the intersection at Third Street Monday morning and closed off Fourth Street at South Railway.
This marks the beginning of the third phase of the project, which is expected to last into the fall.
Project manager Harlen Hippe said this is a continuation of the work which has been done in the first two phases.
Crews began putting up fences and blocking off the Fourth Street intersection, which has also been converted into a two-way street for the time-being.
The city is working on replacing sewer lines underground and repaving the street.
Hippe said if you’re travelling down South Railway, you’ll need to use Fifth Avenue to access downtown.
“Third Street is now open. It’s going stay two-way traffic for now,” he said. “Fourth Street will remain two-way traffic, other than it’ll be cut off at the back alley again. Same as Third Street was. You’ll be able to do a u-turn at that point.”
Hippe said the construction shouldn’t have much of an impact on the annual parade on Thursday, other than giving drivers a bit of a detour to get into downtown, if they’re coming from that end of the city.
The parade starts at the police station, moves out onto Maple Avenue and then turns down First Street, avoiding the construction altogether.
Cowboys and cowgirls, dressed in their parade best, will then march down towards the court houses and turn left along Fifth Avenue.
The parade loops back around through downtown and ends in front of the library.
Parade chairman Jim Balmer said the construction on South Railway won’t interfere with parade plans.
“With a little bit of the construction, things like that, it makes for a little bit more congestion, things like that,” he said. “Just be prepared, get down early enough, ‘cause it’s always, parade day is pretty hectic for people getting down there. People are panicking, people are running late, things like that.”
“The parade has been rerouted to go around the construction,” Hippe added. “We’ve worked with the board to have a successful parade and try and impact it as little as possible.”
The parade is set to begin at 9 a.m. on Thursday, lasting a few hours.
The construction along South Railway will last a little longer. They’re expecting to wrap up phase three of the project by mid-to-late September.
