26th Street upgrade starts next month

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This article was published 04/06/2025 (295 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Reconstruction work on 26th Street in Brandon is nearly set to begin, with only contractor bidding left before ground breaks next month.

Mark Allard, general manager of development services for the City of Brandon, said the four-block stretch of 26th between Park and Victoria avenues isn’t in great shape, and that reconstruction is needed.

Last year, the city presented multiple options to community members on what the redo should look like, including multiple designs with bike paths, more room for city transit, and removed on-street parking.

Allard said after public consultation, the city decided to keep the original design. There will still be small changes, he said, like the way a curb is angled.

“Those that cycle and are dedicated cyclers, I think, prefer kind of an on-street protected bike lane,” said Allard. “Local people, understandably, are strong advocates for on-street parking.”

The city isn’t ruling out changing the street in the future to allow for active transportation like bike lanes, he said.

“The challenge comes down to trying to fit all of that infrastructure within an existing right of way. So, we want to go back to the public, and we want to have further conversations.”

He said consultations wouldn’t just be about 26th Street. The city was focusing too much on getting active transportation on 26th, he said, and has decided instead to “step back and take a larger approach to the active transportation network across the whole city.”

“I think our focus was too narrow on a few blocks of 26th Street, or 26th Street itself.”

Also, part of the project is the removal of trees along the road. Allard said the old-growth elm trees that line the sidewalks along 26th have been causing problems, and that it would be a good time to replace them.

He said the trees have gotten too big and have damaged sidewalks and parts of the road.

“The roots of those trees have caused severe issue with the sidewalk, making it a very uneven surface to walk on. It has created some damage to the curb and gutter on the existing roadway.

“Chances are, if we attempted to leave the trees, we would damage the roots during construction, and they would become a risk in the future,” he said. “One, they die, or two, they start to lose their integrity (and) there’s a greater risk of them blowing over, creating other sorts of damage.”

He said removing the elm trees, which are also prone to Dutch elm disease, shouldn’t be a big cost item.

“Our contractor, it’s probably easier for them to remove the trees than to excavate around the trees,” Allard said. “I think the bigger challenge is there’s going to be some (trees) that are along the same line as the hydro line, and they may have to get specially trained arborists to come in and remove those trees in and around the hydro line.”

The cost of the project is currently earmarked at around $3 million. The city is contributing “more than half” of the total, while the province will cover the balance, a spokesperson for the city told the Sun.

The project will be completed in two phases, with work wrapping up toward the end of August in front of J.R. Reid School, and the rest of the street in October. Allard said the less disruptions for the school year, the better.

There will be traffic delays during construction, but the road will stay open for traffic in both directions, he said.

The intersection of 26th Street and Park Avenue is also planned to be redone, Allard said, with work scheduled for July and August 2026. He said that upgrade will be a lot of work because of stop lights at the intersection.

The intersection of 26th Street and Victoria Avenue won’t be upgraded as of now, because that section of Victoria is a provincial road.

Twenty-sixth Street finished in sixth place on CAA Manitoba’s 10 worst roads list last week, beating out Richmond Avenue, which was voted ninth worst in the province.

Brandon City Council still has to vote on awarding the contract, which Allard said will likely happen at the June 23 council meeting.

alambert@brandonsun.com