It looks good, but will it work?
City councillors and staff members gathered Thursday morning to watch as a sought-after machine did its best to patch holes on 17th Avenue between Kenwood and Oak Streets.
The Python 5000, a one-person operated pothole patching machine, roared to life under the hands of Norm McMillan, spitting out fill and rolling it flat.
Right before their eyes, there was a new patch of steaming asphalt where there had been a hole only minutes before.
But at the cost of $250,000, the city isn't leaping at the opportunity to set it and forget it.
"I think the technology and idea is good, but I think we need to see how these patches are going to hold up," said city streets operations head Mick Jones.
Based on what he saw, Jones laid out a few Python pros.
"The fact it's a self-propelled one-man unit, we're not exposing workers to potential back injuries or lost-time incidents. They're not inhaling asphalt fumes. It's really good on that side of things," he said.
While Coun. Albert Koehler said he "certainly likes technology," he wanted to see what the cost-benefit analysis of the machine was going to produce.
"It's interesting to see new technology looking at problems," the engineer said. "My general opinion is it's impressive - so far."
But in order to tackle the tough ruts of city roads, Jones said staff need to see results for themselves.
"And that's why we're bringing it in to patch our roads, and do these potholes so we can monitor it over time and see how it performs," he said. "The idea is fine, but if it doesn't perform well, there's zero interest."
Catching the Python and bringing it to Prince George for the demonstration was a long process. The machine was first brought to the city's attention after councillors came across it at a Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference in Toronto two years ago.
Jones said the manufacturer doesn't have many units available and getting the Python to Prince George was only finalized last week.
Making use of time away to find best practices is a major benefit of councillors going out of town to events such as FCM meetings, said Coun. Cameron Stolz.
"The biggest success I had at FCM, from my perspective was in a conversation with staff from the city of Saskatoon in what they're doing to enhance their road rehabilitation," Stolz said.
Out in the prairie province, they are experimenting with a pilot project where they divert asphalt shingles from the landfill and mix it with what gets milled off of the roads.
"They've apparently had some great success with it and they're projecting they should be able to increase their road rehabilitation budget by somewhere between 10 to 15 per cent," he explained.
Jones said Prince George staff has been in conversation with the Saskatoon roads people about the project, but are waiting to see results first.
"The shingles are still fairly new so we don't know if it performs at least as well as traditional hot mix," he said, "because the last thing we want to do is is put in shingles and see 15th Avenue fail in two years."
