REGINA – Barry Zerr has lived on Lyons Street in Regina for 33 years, and says he’s only seen minor repairs in that time.
“Just looking down the street you can see the patching,” he said. “That does very little.”
Zerr’s is only one of a handful of roadways suggested as among the worst residential streets in Regina.
A new report shows 55 per cent of residential roads in the city are in poor condition, compared to 15 per cent of streets with high traffic.
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According to State of the Roadways Infrastructure 2013, repairing every problem road would cost $261-million.
Making sure that number doesn’t go any higher would require $43-million every year until 2033.
“I’m not going to fool anyone and say we’ll do every street in the city,” said Mayor Michael Fougere. “It’s virtually impossible to do that.”
“But we are looking at a program that will look at those local streets.”
City council is considering a plan that would redirect money to residential road repairs.
Despite a backlog, Fougere says $18-million was spent on fixing streets last year, though the emphasis has been on Regina’s busiest roadways.
“We tend to focus on 20 per cent of roads used by 80 per cent of the population to make sure those are good,” Fougere said.
Comparing Regina’s roads to the rest of the country, in the 2012 Canadian Infrastructure Report Card, 21 per cent rated as poor or very poor condition.
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