MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM — City council kept operations director Bevan Harlton on his toes during the March 25 regular meeting as they peppered him with questions about infrastructure problems and plans to address them.
Coun. Jamey Logan inquired about the 1600 to 1800 blocks of Stadacona Street West near the Humane Society, saying council had received several complaints from area business owners.
“That road … — we’ll call it a road — is pretty much impassable,” he said, before wondering what the plan was to fix it, including building it up and installing culverts.
Those blocks, along with other streets in Moose Jaw, are gravel, so they function and drain a certain way, said Harlton. The best method to address them — including turning them to asphalt and installing culverts — is through a local improvement plan (LIP).
Those roads’ conditions do not exempt grader operators from attempting to improve them or city hall from attempting to enhance drainage, he continued. In general, though, that location does not provide a high level of service since it’s gravel and does not offer defined drainage features.
“I can say that I know it offers a real challenge for those road locations because when the road is wet, there’s nothing a grader can do,” Harlton said. “And oftentimes, a grader can come do superficial surface repairs.”
He added that the city could do a better job of “crowning” the road, would review it, and would attempt to address an outstanding repair request. He reiterated that an LIP is the best upgrade approach.
“I get that, but I honestly disagree with you. From the Humane Society heading west, you don’t need a grader there, you need a boat,” said Logan.
Furthermore, there’s no culvert, so the water pools in large puddles and it’s difficult to drain that road, he continued. While an LIP would help in the long term, the city must provide a better level of service, which he didn’t think it was doing.
“We dropped the ball on that section of road and I really think we need to take a better look at it,” Logan added.
Harlton said he would review solutions for that location.
Coun. Doug Blanc asked about 13th Avenue, saying he understood city hall had plans to pave that road but didn’t because of the number of water main breaks that had occurred there.
“However, driving over it, it is full of holes. And I know there were a couple of little spots that were filled,” he said, before wondering if city administration planned to patch that road so it was more driveable.
Blanc also asked about the status of the agreement with Canadian Pacific Kansas City for repairing the Thunderbird Viaduct/Fourth Avenue Bridge, saying anyone who’s travelled over that span recently knows it’s in the same poor condition as 13th Avenue and needs repairing “right now.”
Harlton said he was unsure about the progress road repair crews were making in their transition from addressing freeze-thaw cycle issues to general road concerns; they were still using cold-mix asphalt to fill holes until hot mix became available in a month.
Meanwhile, he said city hall needed to send letters to homeowners on 13th Avenue because crews would be coming through to address that area. However, he was unable to provide a timeline for when the city could repair the potholes.
As for the Fourth Avenue Bridge, Harlton said he would have to provide a written response about how arbitration is going between the city and the railway company.
“We are trying to find options to get on there and remediate it,” he added.
Meanwhile, Coun. Kim Robinson asked when city hall planned to sweep the streets — especially Main Street — since the weather was improving.
Harlton said he thought city crews had swept Main Street recently but would confirm and present a report later.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, April 8.
