There were a lot of smiles to go around Tuesday afternoon as the city of Portage la Prairie held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Crescent Lake Causeway project. 

The federally funded project has been highly anticipated around Portage, as Mayor Irvine Ferris explains.

"I think this is huge." He continues, "This project has been in the works for a long time, we really started back in 2015 with consultations with the public and the engineering firms and then, of course, to see it come to this completion it's been a long time coming."

Mayor Ferris says this development to our city will continue to serve the community for many years to come.

"The old two-lane timber bridge that it (the Causeway) replaced was built in 1929, so it served our community for about 90 years. And this new piece of infrastructure will serve us today, but also for many, many years into the future." Ferris carries on, "So, it certainly improves traffic flow. We've got some safe active transportation incorporated, and it looks really, really good. So, it's nice to see it finally completed, and we're looking forward to using it."

The mayor spoke about how this, along with other projects, will help Portage continue to thrive and bloom.

"Certainly we've seen growth in our community. Anybody that drives around or lives here or visits here can see the growth that's taking place. And certainly, to accommodate that growth, you need to make sure your infrastructure is modern, it's efficient, and it's sustainable, and this goes a long way towards that for sure."

Ferris adds that he wanted to thank the citizens of Portage for their patience and understanding with this project, as he recognizes the people of Portage have had to deal with a lot of inconvenience and detours.