Joy pleased with early start to road work

By Chris Lewis | Vol. 32 No. 7 (May 1 2019)

Holyrood councillor Jim Joy was happy to report Tuesday that his hopes of getting infrastructure work going early in the year has panned out as planned.

During a regular meeting of council April 30, Joy reported that culvert work was the first on the list, with upgrades and repairs to culverts in a number of places around the community, which came in conjunction with roadwork near the town’s community centre. Road sweeping was also set to begin on the same day as the meeting.

“As we do our roadwork this year, we’ll hopefully do the required replacement of culverts and so on to make sure the road is up to standard, and will hopefully last more into the long-term,” Joy said.

He noted the infrastructure and public works committee is recommending the use of a portion of its federal gas tax funding for further road paving. Joy said the committee would like to have this approved as soon as possible, as they are hoping to move these plans ahead as early as they can. The details of that roadwork will be presented at the next meeting of council, where approval will be sought for the required monies.

The committee is also looking to the provincial government for some aid with ongoing drainage issues along Route 60.

Following a survey conducted by the Department of Transportation and Works, Joy said, the committee was able to highlight to the Department some of their priorities in the area, including inadequate drainage in a section along Route 60.

The area in question sits along Salmonier Line, near Kennedy’s Lane. Joy said the area has posed continuing problems for the Town over the years, including large shoulder washouts and ongoing erosion.

“This was supposed to be paved last fall, but the drainage issues were not corrected, and although the new paving was appreciated, and badly needed, the underlying problem still exists,” Joy said. “Problem areas such as this need to be properly engineered and planned to correct the base problems, which are causing early deterioration of road infrastructure.”

Joy said that although paving is ongoing in these areas, he feels as though the core issues are being ignored.

Despite the obvious higher costs associated with carrying out the necessary work, he stated it would ultimately be a more cost-effective approach to get it out of the way now, as opposed to letting it sit and worsen over time.
Joy said the Town’s senior staff are planning to request a follow-up meeting with the department to raise the matter.

Lastly, in his committee report, Joy reported on the progress of the Main Beach lift station, and forcemain upgrades, for which the town received final approval just recently. He says the price for this work came in lower than originally anticipated, and savings from the approved government funding can now be used for other projects. The associated costs of the project came to approximately $33,925.