Waterline construction snarls traffic on 50 Ave in Beaumont

BEAUMONT -- The City of Beaumont's water feedline project on 50 Ave continues to face delays.

The major project began work in May with the goal of putting in a new water supply feed line between the Main Pumphouse and the St. Vital Pumphouse. Constuction has also included upgrades at each pumphouse to accommodate the installation of the water feed line extension.

Work was originally expected to be wrapped up in front of Bellevue School and the Community Centre but the start of September, however, adverse weather from this past summer has pushed back the project's timeline until later this year. Lisa Vanderkwaak, Mayor of Beaumont, says that part of the delays is also attributed to the discovery of several old pipes that were not included in underground schematics. 

"Most of what's slowing work down is what crews are finding underground," said Vanderkwaak in a video posted to social media. "This is one of the oldest parts of town, and it's full of utility lines. A lot of them went in decades ago, long before today's standards for mapping and recording underground infrastructure."

She adds that the city is collaborating with stakeholders to resolve utility conflicts and scheduling challenges to allow the project to progress successfully. The crews are working towards a late fall 2026 completion, though some of the project scope could take until next year. Mayor Vanderkwaak says that these challenges were compounded by heavy rainfall from throughout the summer.

"We've had the wettest summer on record with more than 500 mL since June 1st," said Vanderkwaak. "This is the part that's hard to see from the road: the surface dries out in a day or two, but crews are working several metres down -- and water sits down there a lot longer that. Wet ground makes it tough to lay pipe and backfill property."

With students returning for the 2026-2027 school year this week, residents and nearby businesses will notice more congestion in the area as school resumes and traffic is limited to one lane on 50 Avenue. Residents are encouraged to seek alternate routes until this work is completed, pending any additional unforeseen circumstances and delays.

According to Beaumont staff, parking at the community centre may be limited, as the parking lot is being used for drop-off and pick-up at École Bellevue School and school staff will be parking in the northeast gravel lot. The bus lane for yellow buses will be closed for the first few days of school and the contractor aims to have the lane re-opened sometime this week.