The Town of Drumheller has purchased another derelict building, 601 5 Street East, commonly referred to as the ‘Old Consortium’. The Town plans to demolish the building to make way for traffic a realignment/thoroughfare because of the Downtown Dike project closing a portion of Riverside Drive.

Town Administration captured resident concerns regarding this road closure and the increased traffic flow on the residential streets in the area was a great concern. In the effort of alleviating traffic increases, a worry shared by many participants, the Town has purchased this property to reroute traffic down Railway Avenue East.  Other mitigation efforts may include additional stop signs on the residential streets and replacing yield with stop signs.

This building was constructed in the late 1920s and served as a high school until 1962. It then served as the Big Country Educational Consortium in the 1980s before being partially burned down by a fire in 2008. Since then, the remaining portion of the building has been neglected for many years. The Town invested $149,000 in the property, with a budget set aside for asbestos abatement, demolition and site development. The tender for this project will be posted on the ‘Bid Opportunities’ page on Drumheller.ca.

“We are listening to resident concerns and exploring the best solutions that fit within the available budget,” shares Deputy Mayor, Tony Lacher. “On behalf of the Mayor, Council and Administration, thank you to those who took the time to share concerns, potential positive impacts and even traffic suggestions for Riverside Dr, one of which is being considered as the preferred outcome of this participation effort.” Lacher also shared that the ‘What we Heard Report’ from the survey will be shared with the public later this week at the meeting hosted by the Flood Mitigation Office.

CAO Darryl Drohomerski adds “This is a great opportunity for Drumheller. We are removing another derelict building from our community, and offering a solution that hits the vision of concurrent projects such as the Downtown Area Revitalization Plan.”

The survey results and initial concept of the traffic realignment will be unveiled at the March 16 Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA) Community Information Session.