FORT ASSINIBOINE – Woodlands County councillors decided at their July 19 meeting to hold off on a cold mix rehabilitation program for 12 sections of five roads, as the projected cost was roughly two-and-a-half times as much as a remediation program for the same stretches of road.
Councillors voted 6-1 on a motion to continue with the county’s remediation program, which will involve pulverizing the 12 identified road sections.
However, council hasn’t completely given up on cold mix rehabilitation, as the motion also directed administration to identify priority road sections for a possible program in 2024.
Director of infrastructure Andre Bachand said that during their June 21 meeting, council directed administration to prepare the estimated cost of a cold mix rehabilitation program on the 12 sections of road, which are approximately one to 1.2 kilometres in total length
Bachand said it would cost approximately $45,000 to pulverize the 12 sections, while rehabilitating them would cost an estimated $115,000.
He noted council also passed a motion to have administration prepare an analysis of the 2024 roads in question for cold mix rehabilitation, but he was unable to provide council with that analysis.
“Given the rate of deterioration (on older roads), it’s difficult for us to come up with a list of roads that should be done in 2024 at this time,” he said.
Bachand noted that the county’s current cold mix road inventory is approximately 48 kilometres, and based on an estimated cost of $85,000 per kilometre of road rehabilitation, the total budget for a complete program would be $4.4 million.
If council really wanted to re-establish the cold mix rehab program, Bachand said he would put forward an annual budget of $880,000 and complete the project over five years.
For now, however, his recommendation was to continue with the remediation program, which would be consistent with the last three years.
Coun. Jeremy Wilhelm asked if pulverizing those sections would in any way mitigate the cost of a rehab program next year.
Bachand replied that if a cold mix program was re-introduced in 2024, the entire length of road would need to be pulverized regardless.
Wilhelm then asked if spending $45,000 to pulverize these road sections would be wasteful if a cold mix program came back next year.
Bachand replied that the municipality could skip pulverizing some sections, but others are “almost past the point of patching.”
Coun. Peter Kuelken said he struggled with the notion of approving a cold mix rehabilitation program until they really know which roads actually need a complete workover.
“Currently, pulverizing seems to be the most reasonable way to go,” he said.
Coun. Alan Deane, who voted against the motion, said pulverizing roads only makes sense if you do not live on them.
Wilhelm added that they would likely receive pushback from residents over the pulverizing program.
Coun. John Burrows emphasized the need to have a completed asset management strategy, noting that if they don’t know where, say, ditches are holding water, then the roads alongside those ditches will get wrecked in the spring and fall.
He said he also had a road that got cold mix near his residence, and driving on it was like driving on a plowed field.
