The County of St. Paul took a step toward what it hopes will be a fix to the Moosehills Road slide, but it comes with a fairly sizable price tag.
Council passed a motion on Wednesday to move forward with an engineering study that will cost nearly $100,000. In June, “AMEC provided council with an updated engineering evaluation of the site conditions and the cause of the road grade failures, as well as a preliminary assessment of remediation alternatives to repair the road,” reads the July 8 agenda package.
Recent observations indicate the affected area is bigger than what was documented in 2012. “AMEC is estimating it will cost $98,100 for a revised assessment to evaluate the landslide mechanism, depth and extent and to develop alternative remedial measures based on a more thorough understanding of the site conditions,” says the agenda.
County administration believes the study would provide better information for decision-making purposes regarding which direction should be taken to fix the road. The installation of piezometers will provide engineers with annual data since the issues may persist over a longer period of time.
In 2012, piezometers indicated very little groundwater, yet groundwater came up after the area experienced a few wet years. CAO Sheila Kitz said she believes French drains (similar to weeping tile) could help the situation, but first the county needs to figure out how far down they need to be installed. The French drains would redirect groundwater away from the area.
“The data that will be collected will be useful in maintaining the road into the future,” according to the agenda.
Administration is also waiting on a proposal from a local company to determine the cost and approach needed to deal with surface water that may be affecting the slide.
Coun. Laurent Amyotte spoke out against the proposal to move forward with the engineer’s recommendation.
“Do we need to put another $100,000 into this road?” he asked. He further inquired if the county had looked at moving the road out of the slide area to avoid the problem. He noted that the $98,100 would not do anything to physically fix the road.
Kitz responded saying, at some point, the road has to cross the area that’s causing issues.
“I see this as a step to fixing (the road),” said Coun. Glen Ockerman, speaking in favour of the assessment. “We’ve got to know what’s down there.”
Coun. Dwight Dach made a motion to move forward with the engineering assessment. The motion was carried.
