The city will be able to knock out multiple years' worth of street and sidewalk projects this year, according to figures released by the operations department.
In a report to council Monday night, operations director Bill Gaal laid out $2.7 million worth of infrastructure improvements the city will be able to complete this year thanks to extra federal gas tax money.
During the Dec. 4 budget meeting, council voted to use the Community Works Fund cash from previous years that was unspoken for - due to a change in which projects are eligible for funding - to beef up crumbling gravel, residential roads and sidewalks.
The city has an operational budget of around $200,000 for gravel road maintenance this year and about $100,000 for concrete curb and and sidewalk work, said Gaal.
"So in this one year, we're going to achieve what might normally have taken us three or four or five years to get through a lot of this work," said Mayor Shari Green. "That's fabulous."
The regular road paving budget was set at $7 million for 2014. The full list of which roads will be paved this summer will be released shortly, said Gaal.
Last December, Gaal identified $7 million worth of first-priority new sidewalks and $2 million worth of priority repairs throughout the city.
For the $925,000 worth of gravel projects, roads will be upgraded using pulverized asphalt to add structural strength and will require less annual maintenance. "This application also provides dust control," said a report to council from Gaal.
Projects will use old asphalt from previous road rehab projects that have been stockpiled in the Vanway area.
• North: Edward Road (0.55 km), Kluane Road (0.87 km)
• East: Veeken Road (0.82 km), Overland Road (0.53 km)
• West: Birchill Crescent, Gudrun Road, Walter Road (0.7 km), Collena Road (0.4 km), Ponderosa Road (0.53 km), Sykes Road West (0.57 km), Haldi Road (0.53 km), Hwy. 16 frontage (0.54 km), Purdue Road East (0.71 km)
The city is also working with the province to use their contractor to do chip seal on gravel roads - which ones will depend on where the province is doing work.
Residential roads will be get asphalt overlays or have 50 millimetres of existing asphalt milled out and replaced, to the tune of $935,000.
• Cook Crescent: Highway 97 to Croft Road
• Quinn Street: Opie Crescent to 22nd Avenue
• Lansdowne Road: Ferry Avenue to Sinclair Road
• Highway 97 frontage: - Northwood Pulpmill Road to Perrin Road
• Freeman Street: Fifth Avenue to Eighth Avenue
• Highway 97 frontage: Austin Road West to Weisbrod Road
According to the report to council, a typical sidewalk upgrade will involve the removal of existing asphalt and the installation of a standard 1.8-metre wide concrete sidewalk. Other work will be in the form of improving accessibility by installing or upgrading wheelchair ramps and removing other potential hazards.
Twenty-six locations across the city, worth $760,940, will be tackled.
