LEWISTON – Permanent repairs to a Canal Street fence could still be months away, according to city officials.

City Administrator Jim Bennett said city and consulting engineers are still drawing up possible ways to block the canal and make it safer.

“We’ve had some people suggest just building a guardrail along the canal, but that would cost about $100,000,” Bennett said. Engineers should be able to report their findings to city councilors in June or July.

“Then, it will be up to them to decide the next step,” Bennett said. The fence was damaged in March at the Ash Street intersection when a vehicle driven by a 66-year-old Jeannine Morin of Pierce Street slid across Canal Street into the icy canal water in March.

Police say Morin was traveling down Ash Street early on March 2 toward the Canal Street intersection. Her car continued across Canal Street and through the metal fence and crashed into the canal. She survived there for three hours, partially submerged in water, before she was spotted by a man plowing parking lots at the Bates Mill Complex.

Morin later died at Central Maine Medical Center. A preliminary autopsy report showed that she suffered a stroke moments before the accident, which likely contributed to the accident. She died of hypothermia, however, after spending several hours in the icy water.

“It sounds like there have been five or six accidents there over the last 50 years,” Bennett said. All but two of those accidents led to fatalities. The canal is surrounded by a metal fence. That was built about 14 years ago to replace a guardrail.

Bennett said the city has not been notified of any lawsuits regarding the accident. However, an attorney for Morin’s family has filed a freedom of information request for city records regarding the accident and the Canal Street fence.

“I certainly do not think anyone from the city has been willful or negligent regarding this,” Bennett said.