Resurfacing a section of Canal Road, just months after the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury spent $243,000 to do the same thing, would be like putting “lipstick on a moose,” said Coun. Gary Lamb.
The town spent about $666,000 last year to resurface portions of Line 9 and Canal Road, with the work done in September and October, according to a town staff report.
Of that work, $243,000 was spent for the resurfacing of Canal Road between Day Street and Wist Road, read the report.
“Shortly after completion, the road surface (in that section) began to exhibit premature failure, resulting in a less than desirable driving surface which continues to require frequent repairs,” it read.
BWG council voted Tuesday to spend $165,600 for a “hot-mix overlay” of asphalt to resurface the road, re-add line markings, and other repairs.
“It should be noted that although hot-mix asphalt will provide a more durable road surface,” read the report, “failure to address the underlying base and drainage issues … will ultimately reduce the life of the asphalt, requiring surface maintenance sooner and more frequently than if the appropriate base repairs were completed.”
Lamb and Coun. Peter Ferragine were the lone councillors to vote against the option of spending $165,600, rather being in favour of a $670,000 option the staff report noted would address the “root cause” of the deteriorating roadway.
Council must still vote on the issue to finalize a decision.
“When you put lipstick on a moose, once you take the lipstick off you’ve still got the moose. I don’t want to put something on top of something that’s no darn good. Just saying,” Lamb said.
“You can dress it up and make it look nice, but how’s it going to survive what it has to survive, which is agricultural vehicles, cars that drive too fast that want to get home too quickly, and some dump trucks that shouldn’t be on there? I just want to do it right like we should have.”
The town will use its capital replacement reserve to fund the resurfacing, so no other town projects have to be cut, according to CAO Geoff McKnight.
Ferragine argued Canal Road is a “different beast” compared to other town roads and the reserve exists to cover things such as the most expensive $670,000 option.
“The asphalt’s going to crack up and break the exact same way” unless the root cause is addressed, he said. “Canal Road is a bad road. When you’ve got a newer, fresher road in front of (people), the last thing you want to hear is them complain about it for years.”
Mayor Rob Keffer said he supported the less expensive option because it is “¼ the cost and ¼ the time to rejuvenate the road.”
Before committee’s vote, Jody Mott, executive director for the Holland Marsh Growers Association, urged councillors during an open forum to address the road problems as soon as possible.
“The area that we’re talking about actually has a very large impact on farmers. We ... need a good, stable road that this machinery can go down, that’s safe for farmers and safe for produce. Right now it’s not,” she said.
Holland Marsh farmers are a “large tax base” in the community that provide jobs for the local economy, she added.
“If we wait, it’s not going to be great. We also have harvest coming up,” Mott said. “We need to have this done as soon as we can.”
Deputy Mayor James Leduc and Coun. Mark Contois did not attend the meeting, and so did not vote on the issue.
