Council’s $4 million dollar increase to the City’s “grind and pave” budget means that roads like Riverpark and Vimy have been added to this year’s asphalt contract. The City has agreed to spend $5.7 million with Miller Paving Ltd. to complete asphalt repair on 9 kilometres of roadway; 5 kilometres of surface treatment on rural roads; pulverizing and surface treatment of Government Rd. N.; pavement restoration of three municipal parking lots; paving of the Timmins Cemetery expansion; and, asphalt restoration along Crawford St. N. following the installation of new watermain.
The original plan, which called for approximately 4 kilometres of full-width road rehabilitation, was expanded with the added investment to include roads that were under some public scrutiny.
“Vimy Ave. and Riverpark Rd. are welcome additions to the list,” says Scott Tam, Director of Growth and Infrastructure. “We’ve worked with feedback from City Council and from local residents to expedite repairs to a number of streets throughout the city. Riverpark Rd. needs rehabilitation after water infrastructure work over the winter and Vimy Ave. has served as a detour route, with increased traffic, for the last two seasons of Connecting Link construction.”
The City bases its “grind and pave” priorities on feedback from internal departments like Public Works and from a 2019 Roads Needs Study, which has ranked roads based on a Pavement Condition Index (PCI).
“The amount of roadway that can be completed is largely dependent on budget and cost drivers like labour and material costs,” adds Tam. “During this year’s budget deliberations, it was identified that asphalt prices had increased by 27.5% and nearly doubled asphalt prices for municipalities in the GTA. Council’s commitment to investing in the yearly roads program is necessary to maintain our road network.”
Sections of Vipond Rd., Goldmine Rd., Victoria Ave, Wilson Ave., Park Ave., and MacLean Dr. have also been added to the list, which is available online at: https://www.timmins.ca/our_services/engineering/capital_works/2023_capital_works.
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