With the numerous times it made its way into our articles High Street was bound to make our top list of local news stories this year. Here it is at #5.

The trials and tribulations can be traced back to Phase 2 of the City's water main replacement program. Contractors had failed to meet multiple specifications and the road was left a mess with potholes and divots similar to trenches.

After residents realized how badly the roads were affected, High Street was left desolate.

While residents may have been worried about their vehicles, many High Street business owners worried about their livelihood. Sadly, many longtime businesses had met their end. Most notably, the Phone Doctor and Scuba Guys Dive Shop.

Eventually, residents were given the perfect outlet to voice their frustrations, with CAA's Top 10 Worst Roads in Saskatchewan Contest.

"This year the CAA Worst Roads campaign resulted in 1,782 votes being received from all types of Saskatchewan road users," CAA Spokesperson Christine Niemczyk had said. "Indeed 3 of the roads in the top 10 are from Moose Jaw. We have High Street West as the Number 1 worst road. Followed by another Moose Jaw favourite 1st Ave SE, and in 10th position was 9th Ave South West in Moose Jaw".

Although plans were already in gear for repairs to be completed by the City, once High Street had been voted number 1, it was a clear message that something had to be done.

"This is not a source of pride that the citizens of Moose Jaw want to have, I don't think we want to be a city that says 'Oh look at how bad things are," Mayor Fraser Tolmie had said. "We want to be a city that says 'We're getting things done and we need to get things fixed'."

Beginning in May of this year, the City of Moose Jaw wanted it to be clear they were doing something about High Street. Construction began and they offered weekly updates to the public and business local to the street. There were a couple of hiccups along the way, such as a punctured gas line and numerous severed sewer connections, but crews kept at it and released weekly updates on where they were at with the work.

Although it was a block by block process residents could start traveling High Street with confidence again, albeit with a couple of detours.

Moose Jaw's unofficial suspension test track went from being voted the worst road in Saskatchewan to one of the best roads in the province thanks to some hard work and dedication. However, even with the road complete, there was still a bad taste left in some people's mouths. The hardships that many business owners went through didn't leave them too happy after City crews were done their work.

This spawned one parody campaign from local business owner Darrell Markin with Cross Canada Flooring, his goal was to "Make High Street Great Again." Sprouting support from other business owners, he wanted people to see all the good in the bad.

"Did it hurt? Absolutely. Did we get our teeth kicked in? Sure, but there was a lot of customers that came, especially to my business Cross Canada Flooring, that had bought five years ago or six months ago that came back they continued to find a way," explained Markin. "You'd watch them walk two blocks, little bit of drizzle, it was cold out, they didn't care... they were coming to see you."

The City also tried their hand at celebrating the completion of High Street. Although they had planned to hold a block party celebration, they were met with backlash from High Street businesses. It wasn't until the Moose Jaw and District Chamber of Commerce had taken over the party planning that some people warmed up to the idea. Thus, High Street celebrated their grand re-opening.

The road still sits as a smoth ride, and hopefully, Moose Jaw can avoid a similar situation ever again in its future.