“Big Dig”

The city of Regina’s Wascana Lake was created in the 1900s as a reservoir fed by Wascana Creek. In recent years, sediment had been collecting at the bottom of the lake, reducing its depth by 35% to 1.5 metres on average. The excavation of the lake started on January 6, 2004. During the excavation, 1.3 million cubic metres of earth were moved by 200 workers working 24 hours a day, and trucks made about 96,000 trips out of the lakebed. Upon the completion of the excavation, the lake reached depths of over 5.5 metres. The Wascana Lake project also included the creation of a new promenade and pedestrian way at Albert Street, a new pedestrian underpass at the Broad Street Bridge, the creation of Discovery Island, a new island in the east lake federal migratory bird sanctuary, the enlargement of Willow Island and Spruce Island, and a new floating fountain north from the Legislative Building. The excavation of the lake was completed on March 21, 2004, with further enhancements and landscaping continuing until November of that year. The cost of the project, which reached $18 million, was shared by city, provincial, and federal governments.

Dagmar Skamlová