While the pothole and road conditions in Grande Prairie may cause some aggravation in drivers, staff with the city’s transportation department say they are hard at work addressing some immediate issues.
“It’s always a struggle to get the potholes filled leftover from winter operations,” says Transportation Manager Robert Carroll.
Carroll explains that crews have come to a point where they have most of the smaller potholes patched, suggesting they’re now more of a nuisance rather than a safety issue. He adds drivers may still notice larger damaged areas, but he assures those fixes will begin to take place as soon as the hot mix is available.
“The asphalt plants are starting up at the end of this week so we should get going with some larger type projects using our asphalt and proper compaction equipment so we’re able to get a better patch over what we have down.”
Carroll says once the pothole situation is tended to, drivers should be wary that the construction season won’t be far behind. He adds the list of capital projects approved for his department is fairly large, but one project, in particular, has been a long time coming.
“100th Avenue at the old bypass from the Staples right out to the airport is going to get a new lift of asphalt… we’re looking forward to that one, as it’s a piece of road that we constantly maintain.”
Carroll says other projects will now include road work in the downtown core, Vision West Industrial Park, and Cobblestone.
The City started its road work on May 15th, with $16.9 million earmarked for major road improvements in 2020. That includes the continuation of last year’s work in the College Park area.
Starting May 25th, work will be done on 116 Avenue between the east side of the CN Rail tracks and 92 Street, Westpointe Drive between 81 Avenue and 74 Avenue, and Patterson Drive between Prairie Road and 84 Avenue. Construction at all three sites is expected to be done by the end of June.
Another $400,000 has been committed to trail work this year. Construction began Wednesday to remove and replace the asphalt trail along 100 Avenue between 106 Street and 108 Street. In early June, they will move to the trail that runs along the north side of Crystal Lake for some repairs.