The City of Portage la Prairie hosted a grand opening for Saskatchewan Avenue yesterday, with local and provincial dignitaries and those involved in the project attending.
The event was hosted at MNP in Portage, and Mayor Sharilyn Knox took a moment to thank everyone involved in the project, including the federal and provincial government. Knox explains that their assistance was crucial in keeping the project from affecting residents.
"Something that we have to remember is that we didn't do this alone when it comes to finance, so we have to thank our provincial government for being partners in this, as well as the federal government. And also, just the fact that over the years, we, as a council over the years, have become quite fiscally responsible, and we managed to complete this project without any additional taxes to our citizens."
The project became a reality while under the leadership of former mayor, Irvine Ferris, and he notes he's glad to see it reach completion.
"It was very gratifying to see the whole project completed after all this time, and really, kudos to the current mayor and council for following through on the plans that were made so many years ago, and of course, dealing with all the issues they had to deal with. And certainly, the citizens of Portage, the business people on the avenue, they really took it on the chin for a couple of years, as far as traffic into their businesses. It looks tremendous, and it's really nice to see it finally being completed. I think it's really moved Portage ahead in appearance and function, so, great to see it done."
Brent Michie, a partner at MNP, adds that they're thankful to be involved in the celebration.
"We just want to thank the city for choosing our MNP location to host the grand opening of Saskatchewan Avenue. That avenue looks absolutely awesome, and we were also happy to step up our game a bit and beautify our location a bit to match how beautiful the avenue is."
Knox adds that the project has given a new title to Saskatchewan Avenue as well.
"It's fantastic. What they call this now is a complete street because it has safe pedestrian traffic, it has safe bike lane traffic, and safe vehicular traffic, so we're very proud of that."