Spring is in the air and that means the beginning repairs on roads in Timmins, which battled yet another brutal winter.
During Monday’s city council meeting, an agreement was unanimously passed which awarded Interpaving Limited $168,350.00+HST to execute the city’s Rout and Seal program for 2015.
‘Rout and Seal’ is the most common technique used to repair cracks in pavement. The seal often lasts between 6 and 12 years. It is most effective on asphalt that is 3-10 years of age.
The city’s Asset Management Plan describes the Rout and Seal program as a ‘critical maintenance activity’.
The city received five tenders for the project, and opted for the lowest bid. The highest bid was from Caron Equipment, which would have cost the city $295,750.00+HST.
As it was read to council, the agreement was for ‘various streets’.
Director of Public Works and Engineering, Luc Duval, was asked to specify where the repairs would take place.
“We identified some stretches on Airport Road, so the majority of the dollars would go there. We paved Airport Road 6 or 7 years ago, so it’s a good place to go and try to save that pavement. After that, we’ll typically go to roads that have been paved between 6 and 7 years ago that are showing signs of cracking,” said Duval.
He also mentioned Kamiskotia Road as a target, and said they aren’t focused on low-traffic residential streets at this time.
“Rout and seal was out of our budgets for quite a few years, so we’ve got some catching up to do. We hope to get into some of the residential areas where we see a couple of large cracks. If we get them right away, we can save that road for a longer period of time,” he said.
When speaking with reporters after the meeting, Duval was asked if the water main breaks were slowing down for another year, which causes major inconveniences to all nearby residents and delays road repairs.
“I would say no, because I got one today at Rae and Columbus. We had to close a block there. We hope its dwindling down, but we’re still going through the frost coming completely out of the ground,” he said.
Currently there are few, if any traffic lines visible on the streets of Timmins. Duval says they are about three weeks away from starting.
“The lines on the roads are dependent on getting the sand off the roads first. Right now, we’re in high gear in sweeping season. Last week was our first full week. That will take a 4-6 week period to do. As we get about halfway through, then we’ll start thinking about putting the lines down. We need temperatures to be adequate. It has to be warm enough, otherwise the paint doesn’t stick too well,” he said.
Duval also mentioned that the city has ordered a new paint truck, but it is not expected to arrive until June or July.
He called the new piece of equipment ‘a lot better’ and says the new truck will have the ability to keep paint warm.
(PHOTO: A street with cracks is shown. Andrew Autio for TimminsToday)
