The Municipality of Rhineland is a rural municipality based in the heart of Manitoba’s Pembina Valley. Craig Smiley, Public Works Director for the municipality, has been working within Rhineland for 25 years. Prior to that, he worked with the Department of Highways for nine years. Across those three decades, he’s witnessed the region grow and evolve considerably, particularly in terms of productivity – and that’s had a big impact on what his department does. “It’s changed quite a bit, to be honest,” Craig says. “When I first came here, everybody was just using tandem trucks to get their crops off the field. Now we’re up to Super B trailers and tri-axles coming off the field steady. Our roads are seeing way heavier traffic than they ever used to.” The Municipality of Rhineland Public Works Department is responsible for maintaining all municipal roads, ditches, culverts, and landscaping of Municipal-owned properties. To keep up with the increased demand on their roads, and to make their roads more durable, the department decided to invest in a new drain tile system on two recent road projects. “We did Road 3 Northwest and we did Road 9 Northwest, and we put drain tile down both sides of the roads for the length of the roads,” Craig explains. “We did that two years ago, so this year should be the year that actually shows us how much of an improvement it’s going to be.” The idea to use a drain tile system was proposed by an engineering partner. The goal, Craig says, was to make their roads “better, harder, and get rid of the soft spots.” However, roads typically take MARCH 2025
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