By Chelsea Laskowski

Area residents demand answers on Highway 302 West repairs

Jun 24, 2014 | 12:17 PM

A week’s worth of rain is bad enough in itself, but the effect it’s had on Highway 302 West’s construction and detour has some people demanding answers from the department of highways and infrastructure.

Construction on a new culvert, after the existing one washed out last month, was targeted to be done by Tuesday, June 24. At the time, the ministry of highways and infrastructure’s Joel Cherry said weather can cause delays.

That’s what ended up happening.

As of Tuesday, “we’re thinking it’s probably going to be two weeks later than that. But it’s still a bit early to tell. Because what’s happened there is the heavy rain and wet conditions mean the contractor hasn’t been able to bore the pipe through the embankment. So it’s too sloppy there, basically, to get the culvert through the road,” Cherry said.

On top of the inconvenience of the detour, that only available road for light traffic turned into a muddy mess on the weekend.

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Multiple people took to paNOW’s Facebook page to express frustration.

Larry Lorenson had this to say:

“The detour road for 302 west is in terrible, terrible shape. Deep mud, ruts, washboards and potholes plague this road. It doesn't help that the grader operator, earlier in the week, graded the dirt to the edges of the road stopping the water from running off. It's barely passable for lower vehicles, and with more rain and traffic, I'm sure it will become impassible. Some cars slid into the ditch, others left car parts on the road. I hope they send their bills to Highways, who waited for 302 to wash out, rather than do the preventative maintenance last year.”

An excerpt from a long post by Anne and Marvin Neufeld reads, “It was bad enough before but had hardened over time. Now, the daily commute of the residents of this area has evolved into a bone-rattling, tension-filled exercise in patience and frustration. The ruts in some of the muddy patches are up to eighteen inches deep! A small car scrapes along, rubbing the undercarriage with a horrible sound.”

Cherry said he is familiar with the declining quality of the detour.

“As soon as it dries up and we can work effectively we’re gonna have a grader there to make sure the road can be in the best condition possible. But when you’re dealing with dirt roads like this, when you have a lot of moisture it basically turns into mud and there’s not a whole lot we can do to maintain them,” he said.

To see a video of what it's like to drive along Highway 302, click here.

claskowski@panow.com

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk