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![\"MIKAELA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4181875_web1_260429-Boulevard-hole-00007.jpg\")
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MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
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Grace Livingston shows the depth of a hole on the boulevard on Valour Road on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Livingston contacted the Free Press about the situation after reading about the plight of Wolseley resident Christine <\/a>Keilback<\/a>, who fell shoulders-deep into a hole on a boulevard across from her Lipton Street home Saturday night.<\/p>\n Livingston was frustrated by the city\u2019s handling of her complaints. She said she called 311 on Oct. 8 to report the hole on Valour Road, just south of St. Matthews Avenue, in the hope that it would be dealt with.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t JOHN WOODS \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Christine Keilback next to the hole that she feel into on Lipton Street, Saturday. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n When she phoned 311 a second time, on Oct. 13, to find out if the city was going to do something, she said an employee told her that her concerns were forwarded to the water and waste department.<\/p>\n Livingston said she emailed Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre) on Oct. 14 to bring the matter to her attention. If city staff visited the location, Livingston didn\u2019t see them.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing happened. What\u2019s the explanation? Why can\u2019t they come and look at it?\u201d she said. \u201cIt seems like somebody has to get hurt, or something, before they come.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just tired about complaining about stuff. After a while, it\u2019s like, \u2018why bother?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In response to an inquiry by the Free Press on Wednesday, City of Winnipeg spokeswoman Lisa Marquardson said the issue is being investigated, and further information will likely be available Thursday, when a crew is expected to visit the location.<\/p>\n Gilroy, the ward\u2019s councillor since 2014, had not responded to the Free Press\u2019 request for comment as of 5 p.m. Wednesday.<\/p>\n Livingston said the hole in front of her house was covered by snow during the winter, and then exposed by the recent spring melt.<\/p>\n The hole is situated between a manhole cover and a catch basin in Valour\u2019s southbound curb lane. It measured about two feet deep and up to 15 inches wide when a Free Press reporter visited Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just tired about complaining about stuff. After a while, it\u2019s like, \u2018why bother?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The hazard is difficult to see after nightfall, adding to Livingston\u2019s fears that someone could inadvertently step into it and suffer an injury.<\/p>\n \u201cIt could be anybody or a pet on the boulevard walking, or it could be somebody getting out of their car that doesn\u2019t know about it,\u201d she said. The hole is next to a curb, where vehicles park alongside.<\/p>\n In Keilback\u2019s case, she was returning home from a movie theatre when she fell into the Lipton Street hole. She tried to climb out on her own, but was unable to get a foothold because the dirt crumbled away.<\/p>\n A friend\u2019s 911 call led to Keilback being lifted out by the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service\u2019s technical rescue task force, which used a frame, winch and a harness, about 40 minutes after she fell in.<\/p>\n Keilback, who wasn\u2019t injured, found humour in the mishap.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The hole is situated between a manhole cover and a catch basin in Valour\u2019s southbound curb lane. It measured about two feet deep and up to 15 inches wide when a Free Press reporter visited Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Marquardson said Tuesday the Lipton Street hole formed after a catch basin was removed, backfilled with gravel and covered with sod.<\/p>\n A pipe, which connected the basin to a storm sewer manhole or larger main sewer line, was not capped, which appeared to cause the filled material to shift away<\/a> over time.<\/p>\n There were no records of a similar situation taking place in recent memory in Winnipeg, the city said.<\/p>\n The hole that Keilback fell into has since been covered and marked with barricades. A catch basin across the road was discovered to be in similar condition and also barricaded. The city is scheduled to begin repairs Thursday.<\/p>\n chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t Chris Kitching Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Chris produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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