CRAIGEND - A new facility in the Craigend community in Lac La Biche County is aiming to streamline grading services and support County operations.
On Aug. 24, the Craigend Grader Shop was unveiled with over two dozen residents in attendance during the event, which also indulged attendees with free music and a barbecue. The grand opening of the site, which was completed in 2019 and has been operational since 2020, is located 25 km south of the hamlet of Lac La Biche, and sits near the Craigend Recreation Area.
The new two-acre County-owned property was purchased and retrofitted for roughly $350,000. It houses a single industrial sized grader that will not only support construction projects but also seasonal snow removals in the area. The move is sure to bring the rural area more opportunities, said Dylan Maskalyk, the facilities project coordinator from the County’s engineering services department.
“It worked out that this property was available at the time. We worked with the Ag society to purchase it from them, because they owned the property at the time,” explained Maskalyk. The project was was several months in the making with the support of the Craigend Agricultural Society.
Allowing staff to use the centralized space for early morning starts will help meet project deadlines and add to efficiencies, said Maskalyk.
“It gives them a better service with the grader being here to start first thing in the morning and finish whatever else is needed,” including any maintenance requirements.
Cost reduction and road safety
County administration hopes that establishing the new shop will reduce costs associated with services that traditionally saw graders having to travel over 20 km to the area throughout the year, said the County’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Dan Small.
“Most of our public works and utilities are centralized in Lac La Biche, but our County... is very spread out… Whenever you bring the grader from here and you have to send it back, well that’s probably an hour we lose every day. So, we can be more efficient by having it close by,” said Small.
For the area’s Coun. Darlene Beniuk, supporting the community with a year-round grader will not only benefit the community's future infrastructure projects but promote safety for all vehicle drivers. A project the councillor adds has been on her agenda for years considering how dangerous the one-lane highways can be with the heavy equipment travelling with other motor vehicles.
“This has been on my radar for years because I travel on Highway 36 and the grader comes out of town…I’ve been travelling this road for 52 years and close calls are not the best thing to happen, especially if we know we can save money and time, and get more roads graded if you have a facility here to park it.”
More opportunities
The shop and space will allow for other County operations or community activities to take place, said Maskalyk.
“The County purchased the two-acre parcel of land and now only about a third of it is currently being used. The other portions of it could be used for emergency services, parks and recreation or other departments that may want to house or store equipment... in the area as well,” he said.
In the future, CAO Small adds building community relationships and showcasing completed projects through similar community events is a goal the County is hoping to implement.
“What we would like to do for just about any major project is have an event like this… it's good for the public. If we have 20 or 30 people that come out, that’s good. And today, I think is a success."
