By: Jessica Farquharson
Anyone who has been to Saltcoats knows that the quality of the roads leaves much to be desired. However this is not due to lack of trying on the town’s part. The harsh Saskatchewan climate as well as the close proximity to the lake makes maintaining the pavement extremely difficult as it does not take very long for the roads to weather and wear out. The aging water system also means there are several breaks a year, leading to the digging up of our roads to get to the breaks.
Each year, the town does as much paving as the budget allows for. Recent paving work includes the paving of the North end of Crescent Lake Road to the 400 block of Glasgow Avenue (four years ago) as well as the paving two years ago of all of York Street from High Street to Crescent Lake Road. This was a high traffic area compared to the rest of Saltcoats as it is used during the school year as a bus route. The paving of this bus route is continuing this year with Crescent Lake Road getting paved from York Street to Commercial Street.
The cost of the paving this year is approximately $72 000, with the funds coming from a federal gas tax refund as well as taxes from property owners.
Until now, the streets of Saltcoats have never been paved with hot asphalt, but rather coated with a cold pack that was put in during the late 1970’s and was only supposed to last about 10 years. Councillor Gordon Barnhart says “[This] treatment has lasted longer than the predicted lifetime”, but the plan is to continue to pave all of the streets as budget permits.
Specific plans for future paving will not be decided until a new Town Council is elected, however it is likely that they will continue to pave the bus route along Crescent Lake Road before beginning the paving of streets running North and South. The next Town Council elections will be held on November 9, 2020.
Photo credit: Jessica Farquharson