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The road to North Weyburn and the Weyburn airport will revert to gravel this year, in spite of a request from North Weyburn residents not to give up the asphalt paving.
The road had been paved a few years ago but it quickly deteriorated, and the RM of Weyburn council had to engage engineers to find out why, and what their options are. They determined recently that it would have to be turned back to a gravel road, partly to allow the soft parts of the road to dry out.
A delegation from North Weyburn came to their recent council meeting on Apr. 13, along with a petition, asking that the road not revert to gravel. Reeve Carmen Sterling said council determined that the number of names was not enough for the RM to call a meeting on the issue, however on Wednesday evening the council held their budget meeting, so a delegation was invited to meet with them and talk about the issue.
"We went over the history of the road from when it was paved and the deterioration that came up after, and what options we have. We've had advice from engineer to turn it back to gravel to give it a chance to dry out," said the reeve.
One option, to completely repave the road with three-and-a-half inches of asphalt (which was recommended based on the traffic out to North Weyburn), would cost the RM an estimated $1.2 million for the 3.2-km stretch of road north from Highway 13. Even at a 50-50 cost-share with the province, this would cost the RM $600,000, whereas gravelling a road cost them $65,000 a mile, or a total of about $130,000.
"That's a big difference for a two-mile stretch," said Reeve Sterling.
While ideally the North Weyburn group would like the road to remain paved, "there was a general understanding this may be our only alternative. If we can raise the funds for find some kind of program to help with the cost, we'd like to be able to do that, being that the road services also the airport."
In the end, for this year's budget (which has to be ratified at the May council meeting), "the immediate future is gravel. The long-term future will be discussed, but we can't commit to anything. The road has been top-of-mind for us ever since the deterioration first showed up," said Reeve Sterling.
She pointed out some of the soft spots may need more than just drying out; if they have alkali in the soil, that spot then has to be dug and refilled in. Laying asphalt over it would not help, but would only lead to a future breakdown of the asphalt.
The RM council also had a delegation from the Â鶹´«Ã½AVeast Regional Economic Development Authority (SEREDA), including manager Jeff Richards, to ask the RM about renewing their membership in the organization. The item was further discussed at the budget meeting on Wednesday, but as there are still a couple of outstanding items to be decided on before council ratifies the budget in May, no final decision on this request was made.
The RM made their annual donation of $2,500 to the Soo Line Historical Museum.
With the flooding damages caused by the Souris River and by overflowing fields and ditches the week of Apr. 13, the RM is now assessing what the costs will be fix the damaged roads and culverts. Also, as further flows of water was expected with warm weather, they were also awaiting any additional potential damages.
Part of the impact of the flooding damages, said the reeve, is the RM has to put off putting in the street lights at Evanston Park in order to cover the costs of putting in new culverts, and repairing road that had to be cut to allow water to flow through.
The RM will apply to the provincial flood prevention program to cover off some of their costs, estimated at around $100,000, said the reeve.
