The City of Estevan is continuing its push to have the provincial government pay for 60 per cent of the cost to repair damaged local streets.
As was reported in last week's edition of The Mercury, the City announced that with sections of Highway 47 through Estevan almost undrivable, they will begin a repaving program as soon as the weather allows them to.
Mayor Roy Ludwig added that the City has also sent a letter to the province asking them to pay for 60 per cent of the estimated $1.4 million project. Ludwig said the City and province had agreed to share the costs of repairing Highway 47, but it wasn't expected that work would begin until possibly 2014. Having decided the repaving must be done as soon as possible, the City is asking for the province to come forward with funding this year.
Although that request was made over two weeks ago, as of Monday the City had yet to receive a reply from the province. On a positive note, the City has been in constant contact with the Ministry of Highways and Ludwig said engineers from the ministry were expected here Monday to meet with employees from the engineering and public works departments.
"They are going to do some looking around and have some discussions on where do we go from here, short term and long term," Ludwig said. "They are coming down first, with their people checking out how bad the damage is knowing that it is part of the connector program and that we do have an agreement to totally rebuild Highway 47 north and south.
"Having said that, (the work) has been postponed a few times. The last time it was going to be postponed until next year, but we still do not have that in writing. But we can't wait anymore so we were thinking about a shave and pave that would get us two to three years but they may have other suggestions."
Ludwig said the City's plan has not changed and they will begin repaving as soon the streets dry and the weather warms. He said they were hopeful work might begin in April but are not overly optimistic given the weather forecast for the next couple of weeks.
"It's been such a brutal winter and it doesn't want to leave us. I'd like to thank our staff, they are going above and beyond trying to do the best they can. And the (public) has been very patient and forgiving."
Until they are able to repave the roads, Ludwig said the City is taking a cold asphalt mix and using a grader to work it into the street. He noted the method has helped in some of the worst spots but cautioned it is nothing more than a temporary measure.
