Crumbling

Although not a surprise, the County’s urban roads are in need of repair

Council was tasked with discussing its favourite subject at Thursday’s Committee of the Whole meeting—roads. Specifically urban roads.

A report informed Council of the state of its infrastructure deficit as it relates to the urban road network—including underground infrastructure—and described the factors that will inform a multi-year plan to invest in the infrastructure to support longterm asset management.

The County owns and maintains 1,047 kilometres of public roadways, of which 342 kilometres are surfaced with asphalt. Additionally, the County also manages 111 kilometres of water mains and 49 kilometres of wastewater mains.

The 2024 budget approved by council did not include a $2 million increase in funding for roads, due to other pressures and low reserves. This means, to stay on track the Five Year Roads Plan will require adjustment going forward, to reflect the lack of required investment. Currently, the County’s urban roads sit at an average pavement condition index (PCI) of 64. The goal is to have all roads at an 80 PCI or higher. The funding models for urban roads rehabilitation shows the need for a sharp increase over a sixyear period, starting at $5.6 million in 2024, the funding amount more than triples by 2029, reaching $20.4 million.

According to the report, “the projected trend strongly suggests that maintaining current funding levels would lead to a progressively unsustainable scenario, where the costs and impacts of deferred maintenance could overwhelm future budgets and compromise the safety and functionality of the road network.”

Aaryn McNichol, Director, Corporate and Legislative Services, told council that the modelling being completed informs and refines the Asset Management Plan.

“The next steps are to overlay the roads with the underground infrastructure and then package up the projects. Overall this will save money and be better for the Asset Management Plan in total,” he said.

McNichol noted that a PCI of 80 is a target, and council could refine that number.

“Our current funding levels aren’t enough to meet a PCI of 80,” he added. “I did a calculation in terms of what the cost of roads would be, both rural and urban, if we were to replace all of it right now, it would cost roughly $100,000 per household. If we replaced all of our assets, it would be about $126,000 per household. When you look at it that way, it is enlightening.

Councillor John Hirsch took this as a warning of a serious ask at budget.

“The key takeaway is, there really has to be money spent so the roads get better instead of continuing to deteriorate. We failed to spend that money in 2024. We failed to live up to our own plan in fact, and we need to do that or else it’s just not going to get any better.”

Councillor Roy Pennell wondered if the County should be looking at a tiered tax system—an urban rate versus a rural rate.

“I have been checking around in other municipalities. I believe one of the biggest problem we have in the County, is we have one levy. If you live in an urban area you get street lights, you get sidewalks and you get them plowed. The rural folks are paying for that all the time.”

Director of Finance Amanda Carter told Pennell it could be possible.

“Council passed their tax policy for this taxation year. If it is the will of council to change said policy we would need to investigate that ahead of the 2025 tax year,” she said.

Councillor Janice Maynard believed Council was being presented a deviation from a former plan. She also worried that the rural high class roads will suffer because water wastewater infrastructure will take precedence.

“My understanding when we went down this road, we had the classification of paved roads and surface treated or other roads. I am not seeing where our paved rural roads are fitting into this. Really what we are doing now is prioritizing our urban roads, particularly those that need underground infrastructure. Is there another plan for County Road 1, 33, 49, 3, 4–for those high traffic paved roads that we have in the County that are not going to be under this plan?” she asked.

McNichol said all roads and assets are being taken into account.

“The intent here is to consolidate the rural, the urban and the underground infrastructure, and then run the models. The rural roads will be taken into consideration in our plan.”

“I thought if it was a paved road, it’s a paved road. I get there might be different scoring. I am not particularly thrilled with how this is rolled out,” added Maynard.

Staff will return to Council in the early Fall with progress towards a multi-year prioritized plan for investment in rural and urban roads to help inform the 2025 and future year budgets.