Help could be on the way for city’s neglected roads
Public Works and Infrastructure council endorses additional money for repairs
For James Vogel’s relatives, his road is a source of mockery.
“They make fun of the city. They mock your department. They laugh: ‘How could this be that a major city would have a street anywhere like this?’ ” he said to city staff during a Public Works and Infrastructure Committee meeting Thursday.
He brought pictures of his street, Academy Park Road, to show the councillors on the committee.
The photos depict a road overflowing with water from apparent drainage issues.
“To call it potholes would be an injustice to potholes, because there’s more pothole than street,” he said, adding that his relatives sometimes cancel dinner plans for fear of muddying their car.
Vogel said that he has waited years to see Academy Park Road rebuilt, but has lived through one delay after another.
“Do something about this,” he said.
“It’s an emergency.”
Academy Park Road is now tentatively set for a rebuild in 2019.
But there are so many like it — perhaps not quite so bad, but bad enough to be deemed “poor” by the city — that it would take 64 years to fix them all with current funding levels.
That could soon change, after the committee endorsed a plan to pump more money into rebuilding Regina’s worst residential roads.
Roads in “poor” condition currently get only 25 per cent of city funds dedicated to residential road renewal. Administration is now recommending a boost to 45 per cent by shifting money earmarked for better roads.
With committee approval secured, the idea will now go before council in July.
But even if the proposal passes, it would take about 36 years to get all 137 kilometres of poor roads up to snuff.
That isn’t good enough for Coun. Barbara Young.
“It’s better than what we have,” she said of the proposal. “But this program doesn’t go far enough.”
Young said she has plans for July’s council meeting that could further accelerate the process.
She said she’ll propose a motion to bring down the time to fix those roads, but declined to provide any further details on her mystery move.
“I would like to see it come down to a reasonable number of years,” she said. Coun. Jason Mancinelli agreed. He said he could maybe, possibly sell 25 years to residents — but certainly not 36.
“Anything over 30 years is atrocious,” he said.
But there are limits to what the current roadwork budget can buy.
Administration has continued to push for a “preventative” strategy that addresses fair or good roads before they can reach the sorry state of Academy Park Road.
In their report to council, city staff recommended against fixing only the worst roads first.
“To rebuild a kilometre of poor road… you’re looking at $4 million,” said Karen Gasmo, executive director of transportation and utilities.
“Part of why we’re focusing on preservation is not to let roads get to this situation, because they are so costly to repair.”
Administration is floating two other options for council to consider. Both would devote more money to poor roads without taking from better ones. Both would require more tax dollars.
Coun. Lori Bresciani asked how the backlog of poor roads could ever get this bad.
Coun. Sharron Bryce connected it to years of past neglect.
Gasmo seemed to agree.
“We’re living with the decisions of the past and really striving not to make the same decisions as we move forward,” she said.