Watch above: The City of Saskatoon sets out its road construction plan, giving residents an idea of how they’re mapping it out this spring and summer. Aaron Streck reports.
SASKATOON – Road construction season is short as it is; with an early melt and dry streets, the City of Saskatoon is taking advantage. Crews will have a number of projects on the go including a major one at Wanuskewin Road in the coming weeks.
“We are actively out there working on repairing these potholes but it’s going to be a few weeks until we make some significant improvements,” said Angela Gardiner, the city’s acting transportation and utilities general manager.
Besides Wanuskewin Road, the second year of the city’s “Building Better Roads” initiative will also tackle major stretches of 22nd Street and Taylor Street.
“Those are three of the major ones that we’re going to be undertaking this year and will have more details in the coming weeks on the full scale of the projects as well as detailed scheduling,” said Gardiner.
The city also made improvements and upgrades to it’s “Report a Pothole” map, allowing residents to do so online.
“We had potholes that were reported all over the map that weren’t anywhere near the location that they intended to be, some were reported literally in the middle of the river, some were reported in back lanes,” said Pat Hyde, the city’s public works manager.
READ MORE: When to make claims against the city for pothole damage
The enhanced version allows residents to include better descriptions.
“The approximate size of the pothole, whether it appears to be one of the utility cuts and it gives a description of what a utility cut is, that allows our crews when going out to site to better schedule, they know what they’re expecting when they go out there and also allows us to know if we’re sending out the right crews to the location,” said Gardiner.
Watch below: The making of a pothole
The city has started using hot mix to repair potholes but with the ground frost and cool nights, cold mix has also been used. Crews are currently working day to day based on the conditions.
More than $53 million will be spent on Saskatoon roads this year, up $3 million from 2014.
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