Local roads survive winter thaw
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Snow and ice have melted, making way for warmer temperatures, sunshine and even a bit of rain in recent weeks.
But with a change of seasons, often comes the dreaded potholes.
“The roads fared pretty good in terms of the freeze-thaw and the frost coming out of the roadways,” said Steve Lund, Director of Operations for the Town of Tillsonburg. “We’re probably below average in terms of damage to our roadways, and we’re not seeing a lot of indication (of damage).
“Not as much as in more severe winters, I would say it’s generally as expected, the number of potholes.”
Lund said there is money set aside every year to deal with necessary springtime repairs, caused by potholes.
“We have a maintenance budget for potholes, we also have a maintenance budget for patching - it might be short sections of roadway where you have localized failure, it could be a granular or sub-grade failure or it could be potholes, for some reason you get a lot of potholes in the same area, so we have that for the small areas.
“Then in terms of our sections of roadway on a block basis, we have a re-surfacing budget that would take care of just the surface.”
In addition to fixing and repairing potholes around Tillsonburg, Lund listed capital reconstruction projects that will also take place this year, beginning a little later this spring.
“We are in the midst of tendering Thistle Court – located south of Baldwin Street, and east of Goldenrod - it’s for the extension of Ridge Boulevard past Goldenrod. We have been working on design of the reconstruction of Ridge Boulevard – the pavement condition is quite old and it’s time for replacement,” explained Lund. “It’s our plan over the next few years, to propose to council to fix up Ridge Boulevard, approved for this year is Thistle Court – that’s one of our major projects.”
There is also a carry-over project expected to be completed this summer that includes Brock Street - from Tillson Avenue to Maple Lane.
“We’ll be putting the top lift of asphalt on this year. We did undergrounds, and the roadways last year, so this year we’re doing the top lift, and we do that in case we get any settlements over the wintertime,” he added noting that there can be localized settlements due to compaction or soil issues.
“We try and do that where possible, it just gives us a second chance at fixing any potential issues before we put the top on.”
The Town of Tillsonburg has been busy repairing potholes in various parts of town, and is gearing up for a busy construction season ahead. Lund pointed out some of that work is an ongoing maintenance effort taking place over several months, as potholes can appear on our roads at any time throughout the year.
“Pothole repair is a maintenance function, so that gets done as time permits throughout winter and into the spring, until that’s completed,” he said. “In terms of the reconstruction, it depends on the weather – when the frost is out of the ground, and when we can retain contractors, which is also subject to the budget being passed, but I would say usually on average we’re starting late spring to summer on the larger projects.”