These are times of great contradiction in Estevan.
We have so many positive things happening in our community with the economy soaring, major initiatives such as the carbon capture project at Boundary Dam taking place and exciting events like the recently announced Motley Crue and Tragically Hip concerts at Spectra Place.
However, all anyone appears to be talking about, and with good reason, is the state of our roads. To put it politely, this has become a civic embarrassment. There are so many potholes in certain sections of Estevan that the City has been forced to reduce the speed limit and limit traffic to just one lane.
We take great pride in our community, and it's sad to see that Estevan has become a running joke. It's even worse to see some constructive comments overwhelmed by the constant pot shots from cretins who have nothing better to do with their lives.
But what defence is there? There is really nothing to fire back with when our roads are in this kind of shape.
Fortunately, the City has plans to fix the worst areas along Highway 47 and King Street. They will be repaved as soon as the weather permits work to begin. Crews will also be on the road to hit other trouble areas according to the City. Unfortunately, that may not be for at least a couple of weeks. In the meantime we'll have to grin and bear both the roads and the comments. It will require levels of patience not seen since the days of Job.
While the current focus should be on the matter at hand, when the job is completed we can only hope the decision makers at the City also take time to reflect and develop a plan to make sure this never happens again.
It has been well documented that the harsh winter this area experienced is a big reason why some of our roads are crumbling. But the truth is the winter didn't destroy the roads, it simply finished them off. The destruction of Highway 47 through Estevan didn't happen in one winter. It was a perfect storm of weather, increased truck traffic and lack of proper long-term maintenance.
The first two issues are out of the City's hands, the third is not.
The destruction of Highway 47 has taken place over the course of years and was allowed to happen because of poor maintenance. Yes, the City was correct to wait for funding from the province, but the situation should never have been allowed to escalate to this level in the first place.
And that is the lesson that must come out of this embarrassment. The City must develop better practices when it comes to road maintenance and a better plan of carrying that job out each year.
These are great times for Estevan but the shine on that diamond is being tarnished by the state of our streets. As a community we need to support our City officials and give them the time to fix this problem.
However we also need to keep the pressure on them and make sure that a thorough review is carried out and something like this is never allowed to happen again.
