CITY LAUNCHES BUILDING BETTER ROADS PLAN
For Immediate Release: March 18, 2014
Today, The City of Saskatoon launched Building Better Roads – Saskatoon’s Road Plan, the most aggressive program of road work in this community’s history.
“The Building Better Roads Plan demonstrates that we are heading into an action-packed season of roadwork,” Jeff Jorgenson, General Manager of Transportation and Utilities says. “More than $50 million will be spent on Saskatoon roads this year; that’s 47 per cent more than was spent last year. We want everyone to be ready because the result will be more projects this construction season, meaning more work zones and traffic detours.”
The Building Better Roads Plan grew out of the 2013 Civic Services Survey which identified road conditions as the single most important issue facing Saskatoon.
City Council responded by introducing the Dedicated Road Levy in this year’s budget, providing the necessary funding to launch the Building Better Roads Plan. The Plan supports the City of Saskatoon’s strategic goals of Asset and Financial Sustainability, Quality of Life, Continuous Improvement and Moving Around.
The Dedicated Road Levy is funded by a 4.29% increase in property taxes for 2014 which provides $6.7 million in new funding to be used exclusively for road repair and road maintenance.
“The Dedicated Road Levy is a key element of investing substantially more in our roads for 2014. The Dedicated Road Levy and added investments will go toward work such as street sweeping, pothole patching, sidewalk rehabilitation, back lane upgrades, road construction and repair, as well as snow and ice management,” Jorgenson says.
“We take this investment seriously. This year citizens will see changes in how we do our work. For example, to minimize the amount of time high-traffic roads are closed for construction, much of the work will either be done at night, or round-the-clock. Continually improving our practices will ensure we get the absolute best value for our citizens’ dollars.”
Jorgenson adds extra workers and equipment have already started with increased snow grading and removal activities and will soon flow into aggressive pothole patching and street sweeping.
In the coming weeks, the City will be launching new ways for people to keep up to date where and when work is being done.
We are also pleased to launch a new “Report a Pothole” tool which allows the public to report potholes online. This Report a Pothole tool is map-based, GPS-enabled and allows anyone to report a pothole from their desktop computer or mobile device. Users will be able to see if the same pothole has already been flagged, and when potholes are repaired. Residents can find this tool on our website at Saskatoon.ca under “check this out.” It’s designed to be easy to use, and a detailed help menu and step-by-step video is also included.
In an emergency or to talk directly to customer service staff, potholes can also be reported by phone 24/7, at 306-975-2476.
“We’ve already been repairing the larger potholes since the snow started melting. And as soon as weather permits, the spring pothole blitz will be in full force,” Jorgenson says. “We’re anticipating the streets will be dry earlier than last year because so much snow and ice along priority roadways was trucked away this winter.”
City crews will concentrate on patching potholes in all driving lanes on freeways and other high traffic roads including tackling those larger clusters of potholes. Immediately following spring street sweeping, eight patching crews will constantly patrol Saskatoon throughout the summer, keeping roads smooth, including fixing potholes on residential streets. He says a cold, temporary asphalt mix will be used on potholes until the streets dry and the weather improves, following which a more permanent hot asphalt mix will be used.
The spring pothole blitz is a key component of Building Better Roads – Saskatoon’s Roads Plan.
For more City of Saskatoon Public Service Announcements, News Releases, Traffic Detours and Service Alerts, visit www.saskatoon.ca or connect with the City of Saskatoon on Twitter and Facebook.