A portion of 9th St. NW in Altona will be fortified further, thanks to a grant of just over $600,000 from the province's GRO program.
Manitoba GRO is an application-based program designed to help Manitoba municipalities advance critical infrastructure that will support growing and sustainable communities.
Not knowing if it would be approved for the grant, Council authorized crews this past October to raise the sides of the south portion 9th St. NW, which sat about 36 inches lower than the concrete half of the road to the north. This particular area is where a Tiger Dam had to be erected in Spring 2022 in an attempt to keep out flood water that threatened to breach the town's western perimeter. The road was shored up with material out of the neighboring ditch, which was tilled up, spread it out and packed down. Then shale was laid over top followed by a thin layer of road gravel.
Related stories:
- Altona fortifies 9th St. NW against future flood water
- Altona dismantles flood mitigation measures, crews moving on to regular spring work
With this grant in-hand, Mayor Harv Schroeder says they'll be taking this work another step further.
"It will be built up to a standard for flood protection and it will be built up using the right materials," he explained.
That includes properly engineering the road, laying a proper base and cloth and getting it to a point where it could be either concreted or black-topped in the future.
"The goal is to protect that area east of the road from overland flooding caused by the Buffalo Creek spilling its banks during spring flooding, along with heavy rainfall during that time," noted Schroeder.
As part of the funding agreement, the Town will foot the other half of the project cost.
Work is slated for 2026.