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Nordale residents are asking city council to improve their roads. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW)
Roads

Nordale residents ask council to repair their roads

Jan 9, 2026 | 1:20 PM

A group of residents from Prince Albert’s Nordale neighbourhood are asking city council to do something about their roads.

Nine letters from residents are part of Monday’s executive committee meeting agenda and some plan to attend in person, including Carrie McCoshen, who is part of the Nordale Community Club.

“Existing streets have patches of millings, which have never been properly installed and maintained, thus creating dust, potholes and uneven surfaces. At times street grading makes the conditions worse in the summer. Some of our streets are gravel or sand base and there are no back alleys to be maintained,” reads the letter McCoshen wrote to council.

Residents concerns centre on a general lack of maintenance year-round.

“The degradation on our roads is ridiculous. We have been overlooked for many years with an endless stream of false promises. Residents are extremely frustrated at the lack of progress,” wrote Claire and Ed Urbaniuk.

In their view, the city prioritizes paved roads over the unpaved roads in their neighbourhood, while they pay the same mill rate property owners in the rest of the city.

Money for the capital improvements including rehabilitation and construction comes from the Roadways Special Tax levied on property owners.

The Public Works department said that they do normally focus their efforts on paved roads but recent inspections have shown that some unpaved roads need attending to as well.

Doing some upgrades is part of the projects planned for this year, according to the report that is also in the agenda.

Because the budgeted money is collected from a special tax, it can only be used for the stated purpose.

That means that gravel roads can be rehabilitated, but they can’t be improved or upgraded to oil or asphalt.

Issues plaguing some of the unpaved roads include drainage problems, erosion of the road so that it is lower than adjacent properties or some became higher as more material was added, the road shifted within the right of way, the crown disappeared which means water sits on the surface or the structure of the road itself has failed.

Council will meet at 4 pm on Monday for their monthly Executive Committee meeting.

A resident of the Nordale neighbourhood uses a skid steer to clear snow. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW)

susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com