The province has provided a list of roadwork for the Drumheller area highways this construction season.
    Tony Chelick, Operations Manager for Alberta Transportation out of Hanna, notes highway work planned for the 2014 season include resurfacing of Highway 9 from 3rd Avenue West to the South end of the Gordon Taylor Bridge, which is from the traffic lights at the intersection to the bridge.
    Highway 575 from Drumheller to Carbon will also be getting some geotechnical work done to prevent slumping.
    Slumping concerns erosion problems on the side slopes of the highway that help to support the highway.
    Local pavement resurfacing listed in the province’s current Three-Year Plan include work on Highway 9 from Highway 838 to Highway 27, about a 19 kilometre stretch, and on Highway 56 from three kilometres south of Highway 10 north to Highway 10.    
    Completed 2013 Drumheller area highway work included Highway 10 resurfacing from Drumheller to Highway 570, just past Dorothy, and intersection resurfacing conducted on Highway 9 at the intersections with Highway 575 and 3rd Avenue West.
    Other local work included pothole repair and pavement patching.
    Residents can use the 511 Alberta Service, either by dialling 511 by phone or going to  the www.511.Alberta.ca website to  find out highway conditions, work, and possible traffic disruptions.
    When the road contractor’s proposed start date is known, work notifications are usually posted to 511 Alberta.
    The Town of Drumheller held a pre-Tender meeting for its 2014 Road Program and other work Tuesday, May 6 at 1:30 p.m. at the Town office.
    No specific details of the Town’s 2014 work were available at press time.

    If the resilience of miners from Drumheller was ever  in question, their descendents proved their mettle, braving a chilly Sunday afternoon to recognize the fallen miners of the Drumheller Valley.
    A couple of years ago, a small but dedicated group reinstituted May Day Celebrations to Drumheller leading up to the Centennial of the coal mining industry in the valley and enroute to completing  a permanent memorial to the miners who perished in the mines.    
    The tradition stuck as former miners, their families and friends, gathered at the Miners Memorial to take a minute to reflect.
    “In the early years, they called this the Power House of the West. The coalfields of the valley drew men and families from Europe and mining regions of North America to work the seams,” said Kelly Eddy, program director at the Atlas Coal Mine, who emceed the event. “But there was a price to pay for this nation building. How many fingers, toes, backs, lungs and eyes, were destroyed in the belly of the beast?  We remember the pit ponies, and when one of these was lost, the men who labored alongside them shed tears.  And what grieves us the most - the men who paid the ultimate price to feed their families and keep Canadians warm.”
    Aileen Eno and Bill Eremko read the names of the men who perished in the Drumheller mines listed on the memorial, and the Men of the Rosebud Choir provided music to mark the ceremony. Rev. John Crowdis recited the UMWA Rites.
     Along with this ceremony, there were a number of events throughout the valley to mark the May Day Miners’ Festival.