After more than a month of complaints coming from motorists, the City of Estevan has made changes to the line painting on King Street.
Local residents started raising concerns about King Street shortly after the widened and resurfaced portion of the road reopened between Bannatyne Avenue and Pine Avenue in early June.
They were worried about the two quick curves that were added to the 500-block of King Street just west of the intersection with Bannatyne Avenue. A number of people took to social media to complain about being cut off on the road.
Others were worried about what would happen during the winter months.
The city moved those two curves a block to the west, to the 600-block of King Street. It has also removed the north parking lane for that block of King Street.聽
The change was made on Thursday. The affected area of King Street was closed聽while the new lines were painted.
City engineer Kiflom Weldeab said they have heard comments from many people, so they decided to make the changes to King Street prior to resurfacing the road from Arthur Avenue to Bannatyne Avenue.
鈥淲e will see how that will function, and then we鈥檒l wait for the public鈥檚 feedback on that,鈥� said Weldeab. 鈥淚f that鈥檚 good, then we will go ahead with this after we resurface the roadway.鈥�
Weldeab believes the biggest source of concern with having the curves so close to Bannatyne Avenue stemmed from their close proximity to the intersection. Now there is more space between the two turns and the intersection with King Street and Bannatyne Avenue.
These types of curves before an intersection aren鈥檛 uncommon, he said, and they can be found in other cities.
鈥淭here was nothing abnormal or outrageous about it,鈥� said Weldeab. 鈥淚t was just a matter of getting used to it. But we thought this one would be better. So we will let people decide, and then see what the public feedback is like.鈥�
Weldeab said the city looked at removing the parking lane of the northern half of King Street from Souris Avenue to Bannatyne Avenue, and adding a centre turning lane. But they wanted to try other options first.
鈥淭his one was more popular,鈥� said Weldeab. 鈥淭his one was the one that most of the people were supportive of.鈥�
He said the city went door-to-door to speak to people about the loss of parking in front of their properties, but didn鈥檛 hear a lot of concerns from residents.
Additional work will be taking place on King Street this summer. The city included the resurfacing of the road from Souris Avenue North to Arthur Avenue in this year鈥檚 budget.
Then at Monday night鈥檚 city council meeting, Mayor Roy Ludwig announced the city would be proceeding with the resurfacing of King Street from Arthur Avenue to Bannatyne Avenue. It was originally scheduled to happen next year, but once council found out the undergrounds for those blocks wouldn鈥檛 have to be replaced, and the resurfacing could be completed for less than expected, they decided to proceed.聽
Jeff Ward, who serves as both the city manager and the city treasurer, said the city budgeted $1 million for the work on King Street and $125,000 for the asphalt work that was completed on Sister Roddy Road earlier this year. The city will be able to complete their projects within budget, even with the addition of the resurfacing of King Street from Arthur Avenue to Bannatyne Avenue.
Ward also added the city is confident two lanes will be resurfaced at a time, which means King Street will be open to single-lane traffic, and a detour won鈥檛 be necessary.
