Huntsville’s municipal roads are in need a lot of work – not a surprise to anyone who travels the area. But this was the news delivered to council on Wednesday as a result of a completed roads-needs study.
What was shocking was the price tag placed on the work – $78 million is needed over the next 10 years to maintain the road system. Included in that number is a $10 million expense for road widening, which is not considered critical.
The report further identified that of the 413 km of road for which the municipality is responsible, 60 per cent of those roads have drainage deficiencies and 15 per cent have surface condition deficiencies. The Town’s Director of Public Works, Jason Krynicki, described the work that went into the study. “Every road is toured and the stresses are noted and rated, as are daily traffic rates and area type. That information is entered into a computer program and prioritized based on the best investment to improve things for the most people.”
While the roads-needs study used a computer algorithm to identify a top-ten list of the roads needing work, the job now is to visit each area and rejig the list based on the Town’s priorities including what is presently being spent on maintenance.
Mayor Scott Aitchison summarized the gravity of the situation for council. “Jason (Krynicki, Director of Public works) needs to take all this data and review it to build the case for a proper 10-year capital plan. Of course, the issue will be, if you look at what this says here, it is suggesting we need to spend $6.79 million per year for the next 10 years. We are only spending $1.6 million now.”
If we were to raise taxes to pay for even an extra $4 million a year we would have to raise taxes 30 per cent. It is very easy to ignore roads, you patch and you hope for the best. I hear more about roads than anything else. People have started to vandalize them they are so bad. When it comes to budget time we have some really important decisions to make because I for one am not comfortable ignoring the problem any more.Mayor Scott Aitchison
The good news in the report, if you can call it good news, is that the estimate for bridge repair work came in at $380,000 per year for the next five years.
Photo credit: Andrea Brown
Paul Waldron says
I drive Domtar Rd. daily. There is more cold patch on the section from Proudfoot to Alansville than existing surface treatment. The cost of maintenance on this area is probably more than the cost to pave it.
A proper rebuilding of a road is far cheeper in the long term than just paving over as most road issues are in the material under the asphalt.
Thomas Spivak says
The Town of Huntsville has ignored this issue for 40 years and now we will all pay the price for it. Our councilors continue to waste these badly needed tax dollars on foolish things like a Coat of Arms, what POSSIBLE benefit could the taxpayers of Huntsville reap from that.
Does anyone remember the centennial mugs, how many cases of those are still around?
The Old Muskoka Road in Utterson was put down over 150 years ago and we are still driving on the original corduroy logs.
Hopefully any money spent will not be wasted by continuing to put tar and chip over the protruding boulders, logs, and worthless plastic culverts which flex and cause the pavement to break.
Also there is no excuse for heavy trucks coming from Hutcheson’s pit or Panolam to use the Allensville Road when they can enter or exit the highway safely by way of District Rd. 3.
I have personally timed it and it takes no longer, is a more appropriate route, and takes significant wear and tear off the municipal road.