‘It’s a disaster’

Pothole patching underway on Willow Street as road repair pitched to council

Hantsport residents frustrated over the abundance of potholes on Willow Street may soon find some relief.

That comes as good news to Barb Lecouter, who has lived on Willow Street for more than 40 years and has witnessed the old

No. 1 highway fall into a state of disrepair.

“Somebody is going to get hurt on this road or something drastic is going to happen to a vehicle,” said Lecouter in a phone interview.

Lecouter had her Honda in the shop for repairs Jan. 16 due to the damage the vehicle sustained from driving on the potholeridden road. Last year, she witnessed a driver have a front tire damaged from hitting one of the dips in the road. She said repairs to the long-neglected street are long overdue.

“There are not even cones or warning signs out there warning people,” she said, noting she frequently hears ‘bang’ as vehicles pass by.

“This one is the worst road in Hantsport,” she said, noting it should have been repaved before other streets in the community.

Brad Carrigan, West Hants’ director of public works, brought forward a report to council on Jan. 14 requesting councillors award a contract to 3332892 Nova Scotia Limited for engineering services for Willow Street in the amount of $54,825 plus applicable taxes and contingencies coming from the Hantsport Infrastructure Reserve.

“Anybody who has been through Hantsport recently, it’s very noticeable that Willow Street is in very poor condition.

Barb Lecouter, who has lived on Willow Street in Hantsport, said when it rains, there are some potholes that are so deep that the water comes up to the top of her foot.

CONTRIBUTED

What people don’t see is what’s underneath the road surface that’s potentially even worse,” said Carrigan.

“There’s a water main that’s only four inches so it restricts fire flows; (there’s) not much in the way of storm water management piping. A lot of the pipes go to people’s backyards and other places in the community.”

The public works department issued a request for proposals on Dec. 17 for the provision of

engineering services for the infrastructure rehabilitation of Willow Street. Five bids were received, with 3332892 Nova Scotia Limited scoring highest on both the technical and financial components.

Carrigan said the 2019 construction work on Main and Prince streets in downtown Hantsport resulted in a high volume of traffic travelling along Willow Street, exacerbating the problem.

“Part of the reason that it’s deteriorated as bad as it is — I know there’s a lot of phone calls, a lot of resident concerns over the street — because Prince and Main were shut down for an extended period of time for construction. It did re-route a lot of truck traffic along that road,” said Carrigan.

“It’s basically at the point of failure. Staff is taking measures right now to fill as many potholes as we can on a temporary basis,” he continued.

“I just want to assure the public that we do know that it’s out there and we’re trying to get everything fixed with cold patch material. It’s not great; it’s basically a Band-Aid but it’ll hopefully get us through to spring to get this construction started.”

Hantsport Coun. Robbie Zwicker said Carrigan was “bang on” in terms of the concerns over the road and the underground infrastructure.

“Certainly with the construction on Main and Prince, which is fantastic, it has driven the point home how horrible Willow Street is; it’s a disaster,” said Zwicker.

Council unanimously voted in favour of proceeding with awarding the contract.

Chief administrative officer Martin Laycock said the item will still have to go to the coordinating committee, which is in charge of merging Windsor and West Hants municipalities, for approval as the scope of the RFP extends beyond March 31.

The project was not included in the 2019/20 fiscal budget.

“What we’re looking to do is have the design of Willow Street executed now before consolidation, before March 31, and have a project shovel ready for the spring that we can go to early tender and hopefully acquire some good prices,” said Carrigan.