Temporary solutions used over the years to pave Campsite Road just off Highway 858 in the hamlet of Plamondon are increasingly impacting residents and users, said Lac La Biche County Mayor Paul Reutov.
“It’s in terrible condition. It’s wash boarded. There are potholes. It's basically the cold mix that’s been largely unattended,” he said during the Nov.1 council meeting.
Currently the road, that also runs along the lakeshore on the southwest corner of Lac La Biche, is undergoing a $5 million repaving project. However, residents and businesses in the area have also been going through major utility replacements to replace aging infrastructure for approximately 163 lots in the area.
The compounding, upcoming utility replacements, deteriorating road and the overall costs are becoming a serious problem that is frustrating many of the residents, said Reutov, especially since the contracting services for the infrastructure projects are still being assessed and will add time to the project.
“By the time we consider all this utility installation, by the time tenders, bids and budgeting goes through, this could be years. And that road in the meantime needs attention immediately,” he said, recommending temporary solutions be included in next year's financial plan.
“My suggestion… council consider into this next budget to resurface that road again with cold mix and basically dig it all up, resurface it and it will last for another few years… I don’t think paving it with hardtop is an option at this time, I think it’s going to be very costly, and the utilities will still need to be addressed.”
Ongoing concerns
Over the years, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on paving Campsite Road. But the fixes have been “band-aid” solutions, said Coun. Colette Borgun.
“I know it’s $5 million to pave that road, but I also know in 2021 we spent $180,000 on Campsite Road and we have done that many times… I call them band-aids but it is money for that road,” she said, while she also understands the mounting frustrations expressed by residents in the area.
“I’m still continuing to be bombarded by calls. I’ve passed many of them over to administration and they have been so kind to answer them all, but they’re just not stopping, so it’s going to be a very long, long process,” said Borgun.
Paving an option
While the area’s utility and final paving projects are still several years away from being completed, repaving the road to an acceptable standard in the near future is a possibility structurally, regardless of the ongoing utility project, said Ali Memon, the County’s engineering manager.
“I don’t think that if we even do a paving of that project next year for example—because there are around 163 [lots] around that road, which is one of the busiest roads in the county—” he says would be an issue.
Memon explained the utility project is being completed through directional drilling, which is a less invasive method of construction. “Even then, [it] would be a direction drill so I don’t think that it would be a huge disturbance on that road,” the engineer explained.
Moving forward, council will return to assess what is available in the municipality’s 2023 budget to resurface the road as a temporary solution while the multi-million-dollar project moves forward.
