REGINA — It was an opportunity to show off what tne City of Regina Public Works employees do every day.
It was Public Works Day, held for the second year in a row at the Public Works yard.
The idea was to pay tribute to the work of employees who do the work on the city’s streets and undergrounds to keep the roads in good shape and the water flowing.
On hand for the event were about 400 schoolchildren from grades two to four, who got a firsthand look at city equipment used to do the work every day. As well, they were able to see various displays indoors to show what makes up the underground pipes and the ingredients that go into asphalt.
“We're celebrating all the great workers that we have, whether it's street sweeping, snow clearing, paving, all the work that we see every day but really probably take for granted,” said Mayor Chad Bachynski at the event.
What Bachynski hopes comes out of this is awareness.
“I mean, to see what it takes to keep the city running and that's really what these folks do. That's what keeps the water flowing, keeps the roads in condition where we can actually drive on them. All those things happen because of the people and the equipment here. So, I think the awareness of how impactful and how important those folks are is what we're trying to get out of today.”
As for what impressed him the most about the day, Bachynski pointed to the employees and their interactions with the kids.
“I think just the commitment to make it a great experience for the kids to come out and really showcase all the great work that they do.”
Deputy City Manager for City Operations Kurtis Doney said this was a similar event to last year. As for the most popular items among those attending, Doney pointed to the equipment.
“Kids like to see equipment, and so they like to see things high in the sky, and they like to see buses and garbage trucks, so those things that everyone knows how they kind of work to make a city work.”
The event comes during a time when the construction season is just ramping up, with work already under way on major undergrounds and road construction projects including the Dewdney Ave. and the 11th Avenue projects.
That has raised concerns from people about delays in traffic. Mayor Bachynski asked for patience, saying the reality is there is a lot of work to catch up on.
“I completely understand the frustration. It is frustrating when delays like that are happening and it's harder to get around, but it is critical,” said Bachynski.
“It's critical that we get the work done and I know once we get that done then when we open things up, it's going to be for the better. Patience is what I ask for and what I hope we can get through. When we get to the end, there's going to be something really nice to show for it.”
Doney said they did try to take the lessons learned from last year into consideration. “So as far as Dewdney as a two-year project, we're looking to wrap that up by the end of this year,” said Doney. “11th Avenue is a project that we're working on now, and we've extended hours on 11th Avenue, so we've got the contractor working until 7 pm and working every second Saturday to really accelerate that schedule and get it done as quickly as possible, while we work with our Crown corporations, particularly SaskPower, to make sure we're aligned and getting the work done quickly.”
Doney said it was important to get that construction done “because there's a lot of other construction that's waiting, of course, that needs to be done in the future. And so Dewdney Avenue will be wrapped up this year if the weather holds. And then 11th Avenue, we're actually going to see the end result of it on Broad Street side by the end of this year. And so that half should be done if the weather holds, and we'll move to the west side of 11th Avenue.”
As for 24-hour construction, Doney called it a “tool in our toolbox, and we use it in certain situations.”
“So the Water Network Expansion, for example, we work six days a week, 24 hours a day to get some critical tie-ins. The north Albert St. overpass, we've got work happening there in the evenings and in the weekends, and so it's definitely an important tool. But we have to also consider residential noise and noise bylaws and things like that, and there's a limited amount of contract availability too, and so we've got a certain amount of budget that we can stretch to get all the work done.”
