Thomas Drive’s woes continue

Times Reporter

 

A report brought to Strathmore Town council in the July 30 meeting, regarding the road reconstruction on Thomas Drive, had councillors shaking their heads. 

Last year, the road was reconstructed and the water line, sanitary and underground utilities were replaced. Also, an underground storm system was installed, to divert water from the top of Thomas Drive. 

SNC Lavalin did the engineering work on the project and North Star Contracting was hired for the construction portion. 

“Earlier this spring there were concerns about potholes and ponding water on top of Thomas Drive, when we had the spring melt. That led us to have SNC do an inspection and report, questioning what steps would be necessary to correct these issues for the coming spring, to prevent any more pot holes,” said Bryce Mackan, project coordinator for the town.

Engineers recommended that top lifting done this summer would help prevent potholes and ponding water. Concerns were raised by council about some of the comments made in the report, which led them to believe that there is a construction issue with the project. Poor grade finish, inadequate compaction, and thickness deficiency were listed in the report. Mackan said those were the thoughts of the inspector who came to see the road, but he had no background info on the design lift underneath. 

“When we received this report, it was done by someone that didn’t have knowledge of the design of the storm system; his information was based solely on a visual inspection. The water flows based on the design will be okay, once we are able to get the water into the catch basins, which the top lift will assist with,” said Mackan.

“The top lift slope and then the adjustment, so that it meets the catch basins. It will put the flows into the storm system as designed. So there was a disconnect between the inspector and the designers simply because he didn’t have the background information.”

Mackan further stated that he has been assured by the engineers at SNC (in the roads department in Vancouver) that directing the flow into the catch basin is designed to handle all the flows in that area. 

“I look at Brent Blvd, which never got a second top lift, and I look at that road and it drives like it does have a top lift; so I am trying to compare Brent Blvd now to Thomas Drive and I have a very hard time doing that. To me it’s an issue of quality,” said Councillor Bob Sobol. 

“I’m not convinced that North Star did a very good job on this, and I’m concerned that we’re giving them the top lift to do and they’re going to fix all these problems, when it seems to me that they didn’t do a very good job on the first lift.”

Councillor John Rempel agreed with Sobol, saying he believes the job is substandard and that the pooling water is not the big concern. 

“It’s not the only the pooling that’s the problem, it’s the potholes that will redevelop again next spring. Just to cover it up with more asphalt doesn’t solve the problem underneath the base of it…that area is where the problem arises. It doesn’t matter how thick the asphalt is, it will keep breaking if you don’t have the proper base,” said Rempel. 

He knows that last year the weather wasn’t ideal and North Star was way behind schedule; they were rushing to get the project done. In the report, he also noticed that there’s severe segregation in some areas that start at Centennial Drive and go back to Parklane Drive. Segregation means the compacted asphalt has separated and looks like it has gaps between the rocks. 

The work to repair the segregation would be completed through warranty and should be redone to the specifications.

“My recommendation is to go after them to redo that whole stretch, take the asphalt off, go back to the base, put a proper base in there and repave it again before we ever even consider doing a second lift on there,” said Rempel.

“I cannot support the recommendation of going ahead with the final lift on there, we’re just throwing good money after bad.”

The town has worked with North Star in the past. The contracting company constructed the road in front of Dairy Queen and came back three years later and put the top lift on. There were no concerns then or now with that road.

If the town were to do the top lift this year, it would complete the contract, the town would be on the hook for any additional costs incurred if problems arise afterwards. The warranty on the work is for two years, so anything to do with the base work would become the town’s responsibility after that time frame. 

“The two-year waiting period between initial paving and the top lift is partly to wait for a base failure,” said Mackan, “because there is no way to know unless that happens. Waiting for it to sink is the only way to know if it is going to pass or fail in the future.” 

If the town waits until 2015 and the road is worse, then they would go through the same process: SNC would go to the site, do an inspection and say what should be done, and how. It would be fixed and then the top lift would be put on. 

“When you said that this report by SNC is not really accurate and it’s a visual thing … what bothers me, is why are we getting this as a report then, because we have to make a decision based on a flawed report and to me, it’s frustrating that we’re going to try and make a decision about hundreds of thousands of dollars on a report that’s not an accurate one,” said Councillor Pat Fule. 

Councillor Denise Peterson made the point that often when inspectors come out they don’t have all of the background information, but town administration and council trust the comments in the reports given. 

“It concerns me what kind of indemnity the town will have if we do this now,” said Peterson. 

She further wondered what waiting an additional year for the top lift to be done as originally planned would cost. Her understanding is there will be more potholes and more complaints in the future, but the gains could be significant and there could be a better understanding of the aggregate damage by waiting the year.

“If we are so concerned about Thomas Drive … if we don’t do it this year, and that road is one year old and that it’s going to deteriorate that much more by next year, there’s something wrong folks, that is not right. We should be very, very cautious here … what we should do is go after those people and get them to fix those potholes and make sure the base is proper and then drive on it for another year,” said Rempel. 

“This is not good, it’s not good at all. I really believe these guys should be out here fixing these things never mind worrying about the top lift. We’re all smart enough to realize, you put the top lift on, then the water is going to go away,” said Councillor Rocky Blokland, 

Sobol moved that the report be accepted as information and the top lift decision be postponed to the original schedule in 2015. He said he would like to see it left up to public works and that he is going to presume that the road with the warranty will be in shape for a second lift in 2015.