By Andrew de Souza

$500k approved to rehab failing roads

Jun 14, 2011 | 6:38 AM

Yes, there are bad roads in Prince Albert. But, some are so bad they are literally considered to be failing.

The city has identified roads that are in such poor condition that not only are they cracked, pot-holed or worse, but their underlying ground structure is so poor that recapping them would be effectively a waste of money.

“Failed roads may be passable and drivable, but their condition is so poor that the only permanent repair option is to remove the road completely and rebuild it,” said Scott Golding, the city’s manager of capital projects and planning.

On Monday, city council was given a list of six stretches of roads that are meeting the criteria to be considered failing roads.

They are:
– Third Avenue East between 20th and 22nd Street
– Fourth Avenue West between 25th and 27th Street
– The Art Hauser south lot
– Chura Court
– Gisi Road
– Telfer Bay

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The total cost of these road repairs was estimated at about $1 million—beyond what the city had already budgeted for the 2011 season.

Therefore, administration was asking for the repairs to be done in 2012. In the meantime, the city told council it would to its best to keep the roads drivable and inform local residents that the roads were due to be repaired.

Debate ensues

Councillors were unimpressed by the list’s content and cost.

Coun. Martin Ring said that some roads were simply too young to be acceptable.

“There are roads that are barely ten years old and we’re doing total reconstruction,” he said.

“What are we doing for the future of our developments here in town to ensure that these types of developments don’t occur in the future?”

Coun. Greg Dionne said he wanted developers to be responsible for any subpar construction after roads are transferred to the city.

“I don’t think the taxpayers should pay for that,” he said.

City director of public works Colin Innes replied that in this case it was more likely to be an issue with the actual ground integrity or overweight traffic than with shoddy work, since developers are required to provide a warrantee on their road work.

Little support for Art Hauser Centre lot

Councillors also weren’t happy that the total cost of the repairs came in at over $1 million, with the Art Hauser lot alone expected to cost more than $500,000.

Coun. Lee Atkinson said that couldn’t be justified given the number of streets that needed repairs in the city.

“There are no residents living in the Art Hauser parking lot—it’s the biggest area and almost half a million dollars to pave a parking lot,” he said.

“If we took $500,000 and paved some of the streets in the city that are not presently paved, how many of those streets could we actually do?”

In the end council voted to leave the Art Hauser Centre off of the list and approved approximately $500,000 in road repairs to be placed on next year’s budget.

As for the centre, council asked for a report to be turned back to council to see if any alternatives to paving could be more cost effective.

adesouza@panow.com