‘Depressed’ city road leaves neighbours frustrated
In this centretown part of St. Catharines, they call it “Lake Lowell”.
For years, the narrow road — lined with depressions — fills up to the brim in spots with water, slush and ice whenever it rains or snows.
The stretch of trouble runs along Lowell Avenue curbs, with the worst appearing to be between York and Thomas Streets.
“The city’s fix is to put more asphalt down, but they’ve been doing this for 13 years and it still pools,” said Lowell resident Kevin Barrett, who adds he’s fed up and neighbours have had enough.
He’s seen postal workers slip and fall on built-up ice, arguments on the street after pedestrians are soaked by cars on flooded spots.
Among the street-sufferers is his son Liam, 14, whose been drenched and suffered a nasty slip on his way to the school bus about a year-anda half ago.
“It was in the wintertime, the sidewalk ices right over and Liam slipped,” he said of a tumble that resulted in eight stitches to his hand.
City crews salted the strip after that, a measure that resulted in a “salt-water puddle” Barrett said.
“The City comes out and does a temporary fix, and our street is slated for reconstruction … we were told they aren’t really going to be doing that right now because they are planning on that work,” he said, beside a large patch of asphalt near Lowell and Thomas, where at least two temporary-asphalt coverings were visible.
“So we have to go another winter with dangerous conditions on out street,” Barrett said. “I get it that it’ll take time to (reconstruct) the whole road, but there’s an issue here, and this needs to be fixed and not just patched over.”
Some of Lowell’s troubles also lie underground.
Sewer issues and backups — possibly caused by dropping sewer lines — also occasionally plague the neighbourhood, Barrett said.
“We’ve also had sinkholes in front of our houses,” he adds.
Lowell resident Laurie Nichol agrees something needs to get done.
“Whatever it takes, fix it,” Nichol said. “We’ve been dealing with this for how long now?”
Dan Dillon, director of transportation and environmental services for the City of St. Catharines, says he sympathizes with residents’ concerns.
He said a public meeting about the road will take place next month, with a notice to be sent out when details are finalized.
“We’ll look at a number of different design options we’ve come up with in dealing with the street … the sidewalks and whatnot,” Dillon said.
As for the ponding issues, crews have been out a couple of times this season to try to “mitigate the ponding (specifically) in one location,” he said of a spot that has has settled and made draining a challenge.
He adds one concern about doing a patch-up job to make a road section level with the sidewalk, is that could simply push the water and liquid onto the sidewalk.
“When everything is said and done, the road is going to be reconstructed and there will be more of a positive longitudinal grade to get it to the catch basins at the corners,” Dillon said.
That work will include watermain and sanitary sewer replacement. Dillon said the intent is to tender it either late this year or early 2017, with a spring and summer construction.
“Certainly we’ll also try the best we can to mitigate the ponding (and ice issues) we have out there,” he added.