By Angela Brown

Battleford road condition study completed

Mar 7, 2017 | 11:00 AM

Town of Battleford drivers will be happy to hear that council has plans for major road upgrades starting this spring after it had a new comprehensive roads study completed.

Council discussed some of its plans ahead after receiving the study, at its meeting last night, on Mar. 6.   

Mayor Ames Leslie says the study will help the town with future planning.

“It was a long time coming. We just got it presented tonight, so over the next couple of weeks we’re going to dig in deep and look into what the report actually entails, and the recommendations,” said Leslie.

The new Street Condition Survey, completed by Saskatoon-based consulting engineers Catterall & Wright at a cost of $78,000, is a more detailed study than the prior roads survey the town had completed in 2012.

2023-24 Hardware

AAA Stars celebrate best of season with year-end awards

1h ago

Real Estate

Buying or selling a house? Do your homework first

4h ago

NB council

City approves new land sale on Buhler Bay

5h ago

“This gives our works department more of a strategic plan on which roads they should go after and when, and give them a better understanding of, do I need to be digging this road up or just putting a surface on top of it,” said Leslie.

In the new study, experts also assessed the grade of the roads and provided Pavement Condition Index (PCI) ratings.

The new up-to-date roads study was also needed as part of the town’s Asset Management Strategy it needs to have in place to apply for Gas Tax Funding.

Two roads identified for work this year are the 656 Road and 29th Street, which both require paving.

The 29th Street is the town’s highest priority. The road was dug up last year to complete some underground work, so now that it has settled the town can complete the surface work this year.

For the 656 Road work, the mayor said having this road paved “will save the taxpayers a lot of money” since the town’s works crews won’t need to spend time and money in costly repairs each year to maintain the current gravel surface.

On average, the town budgets about $500,000 roughly on all road repairs and upgrades. In the past five years it has budgeted over $2.5 million for road work.

angela.brown@jpbg.ca