Eveline Street reconstruction wins ‘Oscars’ of Manitoba engineering

SELKIRK, MAN. – The Eveline Street Reconstruction project in the City of Selkirk has won a major Manitoba engineering award.

The project recently became the winner of the 2023 Association of Consulting Engineering Companies of Manitoba Award of Excellence in Transportation.

“The awards are like the Manitoba engineering Oscars,” said Selkirk’s chief administrator Duane Nicol in a news release.

The project was worked on with engineering consulting firm J.R. Cousins.

The $7.2 million reconstruction was the largest ever in the city’s history. Seven city blocks were brought up to modern standards for accessibility, lighting and public safety were improved and active transportation pathways introduced among other work.

One innovation included designing the project around a 100-year-old elm tree. Matt Fisher, senior municipal engineer with J.R. Cousins, said his team soft dug the tree roots and collaborated extensively to save the tree.

Regarding the project, Fisher said “it showed a transformation of a roadway that certainly needed improvement. As a management group we looked at all the projects (we’ve done this year) and thought that this was an example of a transportation type project that had some innovative solutions to it and that was what ultimately helped us decide to proceed with (submitting it for award consideration).”