Spallumcheen’s five-year road capital plan will also include some bridge work.
Public works manager Ed Forslund told council that two bridges on Stepney Cross Road and McCallum Road need repairs.
“The one on Stepney, it’s not that the bridge is structurally unsafe, it’s the abutments on the two ends that hold banks back,” said Forslund. “The wood has rotted off and water (from Fortune Creek) gets in there. I don’t want this bridge to go through another high water season.”
The bridge on McCallum has two pilings on one end showing a lot of sign of rot.
“The engineer has recommended that they drive two new pilings beside the old one,” said Forslund, who has yet to receive cost estimates on the repairs to either bridge.
While Forslund would like to get the work done this year, it’s likely both would be included for 2014.
One thing that Forslund wants to deal with before the end of the year, is fixing a road washout on Otter Lake Cross Road near an area called The Dip.
The major road project in 2013, the reconstruction and overlay of Salmon River Road, was completed for $1.5 million, more than $100,000 under budget.
The surplus will be transferred to the township’s roads account and can be used for projects identified in the five-year road capital plan which is estimate to cost around $9.6 million.
The two big projects on the books for 2014 includes a 2.5-km full-depth reclamation on Hullcar Road from Deep Creek Road to Canyon Road, and the remainder of full depth reclamation from 2012 units on Knob Hill to Hullcar Road.
“Those two projects kind of join into one another,” said Forslund. The cost would be $1.3 million for the two projects.
Also included in the five-year road plan is asphalt overlay and sealcoating projects mainly on Back Enderby Road. Estimated costs of those projects is $2,265,000, but Forslund said they are not confirmed.
“There are some areas that need to be addressed but it’s really stretching the dollars,” he said.
