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The Highway 4 Bypass, which runs through the northeast corner and east edge of Swift Current, will be re-named Memorial Drive 

 

 

The City of Swift Current is honouring our fallen soldiers, past and present, by re-naming one of the city's longest and busiest roads.

The Highway 4 bypass from the south city boundary to the intersection of Central Avenue North will now be called Memorial Drive.

Mayor Jerrod Schafer made the announcement during Friday's community Remembrance Day service, and city council approved the recommendation from the city's Street and Facility Naming Advisory Board for the name change at Monday night's meeting.

Schafer says the announcement Friday was met with gratitude by the veterans in attendance, and added the significance of Remembrance Day has grown on him... "being able to meet individuals like Hewitt Murch and Fred Barlow and lots of the other veterans and just trying to sometimes comprehend some of the things that they've seen, and certainly now... more real for our generation as you are seeing the names of the soldiers that make that ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan, so I think all those things sort of culminated into the fact that I thought we needed to do something to remember our veterans and their efforts all year round rather than just on Remembrance Day."

At six kilometres long, Memorial Drive becomes the longest named street in the city, and will be used not just by city residents, but travellers driving through the community along Highway 4.

Signs marking the newly-renamed street will be installed in the near future.

Mayor Schafer talked with reporters about the Memorial Drive name change following Monday's Council Meeting.