North Battleford city council is fed up with the state of its service roads and officials are making it known they want the province to do something about it.
Service roads were the hot topic at the City’s planning committee meeting Tuesday. At issue was the state of the roads lining Highway 4 north of the city beside the auto dealerships, as well as by Highway 16 in the southeast alongside Frontier Mall.
Lately, those roads, which are crumbling and pothole-filled, have become the subject of numerous complaints to City Hall. But according to City officials these are provincial roads, and it is the province’s responsibility to look after them.
“They clearly haven’t. They clearly have not,” said acting City Manager Bill Samborski. Now the question for City officials is what to do to address the situation. Not only are the roads an eyesore, they are also a safety issue for the businesses affected, officials said.
The problem was raised a week earlier by Councillor Kelli Hawtin. At council that evening, Director of Infrastructure Dan Loewen said he had placed a call to the province and was waiting for a response.
At that same meeting, Mayor Ryan Bater offered background on the province’s responsibility for the service roads. He explained that under the Urban Connector Program, which the City had signed on to with the Province, the service roads were to be handed over to the city in “pristine condition.”
“That has yet to happen,” said Bater. “At this point it’s considered a provincial responsibility to get those roads in better condition.”
Tuesday evening, Councillor Len Taylor asked for a further update on the roads. Taylor added he had received a call from a north-end business who reported another crater had appeared over the weekend.
Administration officials responded by venting frustration with the province’s lack of response to the City’s ongoing concerns. Samborski pointed to correspondence between the City and the Province on the issue over the past number of years.
“A clear theme that seems to be coming across is the lack of response that we’re getting from the Province,” said Samborski.
Samborski said he and Loewen had taken a look at the roads along Highway 4 North earlier that afternoon.
“In my memory, it’s probably one of the worst conditions it’s been in,” Samborski said.
Samborski said he was “hard-pressed to find a 12-foot section that is not interrupted by either a pothole, a crater or a significant pavement breakdown.”
Worse yet, the problems went beyond that to include approaches into the properties, Samborski said.
Now, the City is worried an incident could happen.
“Some car is going to fall into a sinkhole, or turn a little bit too sharp and end up in the ditch,” Samborski said.
Loewen noted the situation was bad on both sides of Highway 4.
“The west side is just as bad as the east side,” he said.
There was “no response” yet to an email the week before, said Loewen. He sought council’s direction on what to do next.
“I don’t know where to go next, but what are we going to do? We have to come up with a plan, we have to come up with something that’s going to work.”
One thing that has been done in the past is some minor grading and patching on the roads. Administration officials did not think this approach would work to address the current situation. Loewen described it as “a Band-Aid over a big sore.”
Samborski suggested a strategy of approaching and lobbying local MLAs, and then following up with further correspondence.
There was sentiment on council to go even further in turning up the heat on the province.
“Those roads are terrible,” said Councillor Greg Lightfoot.
He wanted letters sent to MLAs and also to the minister of highways, and wanted them to know the next step for the City would be public exposure if nothing was done.
“We’ll go to the press,” said Lightfoot. “We’ll put signs up saying this is a provincial road, do not contact the City, here’s the numbers to call. I think that’s our best option to get feedback from the province.”
Lightfoot also suggested sending images of the state of the roads. Mayor Ryan Bater agreed with that course of action.
“Hopefully that will start the conversation,” said Bater, who added the issue “has been ongoing in these chambers for years.”
