YORKTON - Yorkton roadways are deteriorating, and need a massive influx of spending to catch up in terms of upgrades and replacement.
That was the story Yorkton Council heard at its regular meeting Monday as Trent Mandzuk – Director of Public Works, with the City gave an overview of the 2022-2025 Roadways Improvement Plan.
The issue is most noticeable at Gladstone Avenue South and Smith Street as two of the City’s poorest condition arterial roadways, said Mandzuk.
For 2022, $300,000 from the capital budget was allocated for the engineering design of each street’s future rehabilitation, he said.
“At the time of the last roadway assessment conducted in 2018, both streets had a “fair” condition rating with a corresponding pavement condition index (PCI) between 65 -79. Over the past five years, pavement condition in both locations continued to decline and their PCI has now fallen into the “poor” category,” detailed Mandzuk’s report.
“If we apply the same rate of failure to the entire roadway network places 53 per cent of arterials, 55 per cent collectors and 76 per cent of residential streets (60 per cent of the total network) in poor condition,” he explained.
“When 2021’s average unit pricing for asphalt is applied to the 60 per cent of roads currently in poor condition the rehabilitation cost for that group is $25M.
“This cost is for pavement surface only and does not include provisions for related assets such as curbs, sidewalks and medians. Rehabilitation programs typically require a 20 per cent allowance for design and quality assurance over the term of the project. This raises the total estimated cost to $32.5M.
“Past levels of underfunding make it difficult to address the backlog of rehabilitation work in a quick manner. Once roads deteriorate below “fair” the rate of deterioration and reinvestment costs both increase substantially.”
To help attain this funding model we need to better differentiate capital budget funded roadway projects from operational budget funded projects. It would be beneficial to clearly define capital roadway projects as those requiring a complete reconstruction, suggested Mandzuk.
While, “PCI only rates surface conditions of pavement. Distresses in surface condition, however, may be indicative of underlying structural issues. Roads identified for reconstruction require structural repairs below the asphalt surface. In comparison, operational budget roadway projects are less invasive and less expensive and more commonly referred to “shave and pave” or “mill and fill” asphalt overlays,” detailed the report.
One project is about to begin.
York Road’s reconstruction which includes (pavement, roadway structure and underground utility replacements) is scheduled to begin in 2023 and will be funded with $2.5M/year from the capital budget until 2027.
Following the completion of York Road, a daunting list of locations requiring reconstruction remain and will take decades to repair, said Mandzuk.
For example, the majority of streets within the Weinmaster subdivision have been identified as reconstruction projects with a collective estimated repair cost in excess of $30M.
In addition, many sections of Gladstone Avenue and Smith Street require immediate attention.
“For 2022, the majority of Gladstone Avenue South from the roundabout to Broadway Street will receive a surface patch estimated at ($200,000) to improve ride-ability over the short term. The eastern portion of Smith from First Avenue to Sixth Avenue will receive a full width mill/fill asphalt overlay with curb and sidewalk improvements ($600,000). These two projects are expected to cost $800,000 and will be funded through a combination of roadway and concrete funds from the operating budget,” stated the report.
Gladstone South will remain a priority candidate for a reconstruction because it is an arterial roadway with a number of issues such as failing road structure and collapsed drainage piping at many locations.
“In 2022 a traffic study will be conducted for the entire Gladstone corridor (round-a-bout to York Road) to evaluate traffic flow requirements. If possible the number of traffic lanes may be decreased and the center median widened in attempt to lower costs of the future reconstruction,” stated the report.
The 2022 Asphalt Paving Program will be funded by $800,000 from the 2022 operational budget (surface streets and sidewalks contracted services account).
