WOODLANDS COUNTY - Woodlands County staff acknowledged "we can do better" servicing the county's gravel roads at county council's meeting Oct. 23.
Jeff Zhang, Director, Infrastructure Services, delivered a presentation on the gravel roads improvement program in Woodlands County, on the work done and planned.
Zhang presented information on the Gravel Road Condition Improvement Program, the Cold Mix review presentation and the 2025-2029 Ditching program.
“Administration recognizes how important good roads are for residents,” stated Zhang.
“I personally hear loud and clear from councillors, residents and staff on the condition of our roads.”
“Our performance may not have been at the level that people expect our performance to be.”
“I recognize that we can do better.”
“In the past five years we have experienced a reduction of level service due to reduction of the number of graders, equipment getting older, and staff turnover.”
“There were roads that were only graded one quarter of what they were graded in 2018.”
A number of pilots have been implemented to address the concerns. Operator training has been done and is ongoing, said Zhang.
The use of different machines,wobbly-cart and handy hitch packer, have been implemented. There has been increased calcium stabilization and water truck usage as well as bringing in additional staff to increase the volume of work completed, Zhang added.
Different strategies have been tried to improve gravel road conditions with both positive and negative results, learning from what didn’t work.
Fourteen road segments are identified for analysis and solution presentations with the opportunity to combine some of these projects.
Some of the road segments require longer-term solutions, Zhang said, noting it is not possible to implement and complete all the projects in one year.
Paul Macaraeg, Infrastructure Manager for Woodlands County, presented inspection details for the 14 roadways in order of priority.
Councillor Jeremy Wilhelm gave Zhang and his team acknowledgement for how clearly the information was presented and how impressed he is with the progress made in such a short time of the team being together.
He stated that it gives them excellent information to share on timing and planned priorities which is what residents have said they want.
The gravel road improvement plan will be included in the 2025 budget planning.
