The District of Elkford has given a road paving project the green light while it waits for grant funding to replace 40-year-old infrastructure.
At the July 9 meeting, councillors voted to pave parts of Alpine Drive and Alpine Way, which have been deemed in poor condition with potholes and deteriorating asphalt.
“A decision was made to look at some of the areas that are in desperate need of resurfacing and we’ve left it up to staff to choose those sections,” said Mayor Dean McKerracher.
“We’ve suggested the ones that we would like to see repaired. Of course they have more knowledge of the repair systems than we do and so we’ve given them the authority to go forward, and provide a couple of quotes in some of the areas we need done and we’ll leave it up to them to get the projects finished.”
McKerracher said there were only two contractors in the area that could do small patches of paving and district staff would consult with council again once contracts were in place.
The paving is expected to be completed within the next two months and precedes a much bigger project that the District hopes to receive government funding for.
It will involve replacing all road infrastructure, including water, curbs, gutters, sidewalks and drains, and is costed at between $10-12 million.
McKerracher said the current infrastructure was 40-years-old and the District was unsure how much longer it would last.
“The project is engineered and the design is ready, all we have to do is put on the shelf and apply for grants as they become available,” he said.
“If we get the $10-12 million grant then we will go forward otherwise we will continue, I guess, to patch.”
