Councillor Dennison almost begs for road repair funds – Holtby and Crosbie to get new surface real soon.

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON May 5, 2011 – The good people of Holtby and Crosbie avenues are finally going to see their roads renewed, taken down to base and rebuilt for the first time in more than 50 years. The city is going to spend $916,000 on the task that resident on the streets will tell you is long overdue.

Getting money into the infrastructure budget to rebuild the roads that are in terrible state of repair has been a challenge for Burlington. Poor fiscal management in the past took money out of the roads repair and renew budgets which has put the city in a position where more than 30% of the road work that should be done under normal repair and renew schedules isn’t getting done because the money to do so isn’t there.

During the just completed budget masking session (that produced a $9.28 per $100,000 of assessment) Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison used every opportunity he could find to put funds into that budget account and while he got some money in – he wasn’t able to get as much as he needed.

Palmer Drive, a much used road has a lot of patches but it will be awhile yet before it gets a proper repair job.

Palmer Drive, a much used road has a lot of patches but it will be awhile yet before it gets a proper repair job.

Palmer Drive, a well used road in Dennison’s ward needs work but it will have to wait its turn. Dennison rode over every one of those cracks and pot holes while he was canvassing during the municipal election on his bicycle. He had his ear bent at many a door step.

Money however, oddly enough, isn’t the prime factor in getting your road repaired tomorrow. Repairing a road is complex process that starts with a need being brought to what is known as the Joint Utility Committee – that include the telephone company, the hydro company, the cable company, the gas company, the people who handle the pipes that carry water and the pipes that carry sewage and waste.

When there is a need for a road to be repaired the need gets taken to the Committee to make sure that anyone else who has work to be done on that road or street gets to do it at the same time. Gone are the days when a road was opened up to fix the telephone lines and then opened up again to fix a gas line and then again the next year for the sewage line.

Infrastructure people are now much more sophisticated and they now have software that tells them the condition of every road in the city and when it is due for renewal or repair. The city coordinates with the Region and of course the traffic and transport people because if a road is going to be closed for a period of time and it is a bus route – the alternatives have to be figured out.

Add the fire department to the mix and of course the police will want to know as well. Are you getting the picture? Everyone has their fingers in the road repair and renew pie.

Scott Stewart, the General Manager for Community Services, and the kind of guy who knows how to get his hands on a shovel, told a Council Committee recently that it was nice to have all the extra money being sent his way for road work but that money wasn’t going to translate into a road repair in the next couple of months.

All the extra money does is allow the Joint Utility Committee to meet and decide where to spend it. Sort of like a poker game; someone flush with some extra cash gets to sit in for a few hands and blow a couple of thousand.

Italo DiPietrol points out a pot hole on Holtby Street, a 50 year old road that is due for repair this summer.  Burlington has not set aside enough in the way of funding to get all the road work done – but Holtby and Crosbie will get total rebuilds this year.

Italo DiPietrol points out a pot hole on Holtby Street, a 50 year old road that is due for repair this summer. Burlington has not set aside enough in the way of funding to get all the road work done – but Holtby and Crosbie will get total rebuilds this year.

For now though, the good folks on Holtby and Crosby can figure out where they are going to park their cars and how they are going to get in and out of their driveways while the city pulls the existing road apart and new pavement is laid down and sidewalks are rebuilt. There will be some flower beds that will take a beating.

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