Background

The Town of Huntsville contracted the consulting firm of Pinstone Engineering Ltd of Bracebridge, to complete a Roads Needs study of all roads in the Town of Huntsville. (huntsville.ca/en/living/resources/2011PublicInfoAdenda.pdf )

Public Meeting

Bruce Howlett and I along with our wives attended this meeting. Approximately twenty other people attended including the Mayor, Councillors Davis, Aitchison, Schumacher, Thompson and I believe Withey.

During the ½ hour preceeding the presentation, I consulted with Pinestone's engineer, Tim Harvey while Bruce sought out his associate, Ted Maurer. It was during this conversation that I presented Harvey with LWRA's memo and accompanying photographs (can be viewed at http://www.lwra.net/road_needs_study_submission ).

During the power point presentation, Harvey explained the purpose of the study, which was to -
1. Define the existing road system
2. Inventory the existing road network
3. Identify areas that warrant improvement based on surface condition
4. Prioritize with costs roads that need improvement for the next five years
5. Prepare a report based on MTO standards for the Municipality.

The road system was the divided into sections with each section of a road being identified by a number. North Waseosa Lake Road is identified by the numbers 2028, 2030 and 2036. Each section of an identified road was then assessed a number between 0 and 10, 0 being the poorest and 10 being the best. 2028 was assigned a value of 6.5 while 2030 was assigned a value of 8.75 and 2036 a value of 5.25. The priority list consists of roads with an assigned value between 0 and 5. This list is estimated to cost $8M (at today's values) and with an annual road maintenance budget of $2M, this list of roads should be completed in four years time.

Pinestone Engineering Ltd. surveyed the municipality's roads during the month of May/June when the half load ban was in place, so few if any trucks would have been encountered. Seasonal residential traffic was not considered in the survey. With regards to North Waseosa Lake Road, traffic volume was estimated to be between 200 and 400 vehicles per day (vpd) which included trucks of all sizes. This was accomplished by counting the number of properties and multiplying that number by 2 and 4 assuming each resident drove the road 2 to 4 times per day.
Buses were classified separately with information on the number of buses per road obtained from the various school boards.

Regarding the Jessup Creek culvert, Steve Keeley, Director of Public Works, advised that an engineered survey of the culvert was conducted in 2009 and another survey is scheduled for this year. He also agreed that a traffic counter before and after Jessup Lane was a good idea to identify the number of trucks travelling to Green's quarry and agreed to install traffic counters there. Keeley was also keen on the extension of Stahls Road for the truck traffic to and from Green's quarry, which is being discussed by the Town. Factors such as possible culvert repairs on Jessup Creek culvert may be an offsetting cost of upgrading Stahls Road. Stahls Road has an assessed value of 8.25, its overall condition better that North Waseosa Lake Road.

Follow-up

On Thursday, June 23, 2011, Bruce and I travelled the length of North Waseosa Lake Road identifying surface areas of concern by mileage (from East Waseosa Lake Road) and photographs which was then e-mailed to Pinestone Engineering Ltd. As a result of our efforts, Ted Maurer confirmed that Pinestone will re-evaluate North Waseosa Lake Road.

Bruce Howlett and Bill Somers