A city scheduling mishap has left some local residents scratching their heads after their shiny new black top was uprooted 48 hours after it was finished.
Last Friday, a microsurfacing treatment was completed on Meadowbrook Road. Microsurfacing, or micropaving, consists of a thin layer of a mixture of aggregate, asphalt, polymer water and other mineral fillers being applied to streets that are already in adequate condition as a way to extend their life.
On Monday morning, a crew came in to dig up a portion of the street in front of an empty lot.
"I think this was a situation of one hand didn't know what the other hand was doing," said Peggy DeCiccio.
The 30-year resident of the neighbourhood said the street was in need of the treatment and her neighbours were happy to see it arrrive.
"It was a typical Prince George pavement with those tar stripes... And so now it was all consistent, even and looked wonderful," she said. "For a short time."
DeCiccio said she called city street operations supervisor Mick Jones to express her incredulity over the situation and to ask why the work wasn't scheduled to be completed before the street was resurfaced.
"I told him I understood if it had been a life or death threat, a gas line had broken, etcetera, then you could see it," DeCiccio said, noting a service location crew came through spray painting numbers and access points between four and six weeks ago. "When you're working with red tape, there's permits and requests and everything else. So when that service location crew came, obviously the wheels were in motion that [the road] had to be dug up."
According to DeCiccio, Jones said an error was made.
"I'll give him credit for that," she said. "It's just frustrating as far as the neighbours go. We were all in awe, absolutely in awe. The surprise was incredible."
About 17 streets were marked for the resurfacing treatment, which the city put out to tender in late May. In addition to the North Meadow streets, roads in the Pinewood area were also microsurfaced this month.
DeCiccio said she was told the spot would be patched in front of what used to be a city-owned green space.
"I understand the city selling the surplus [land] That's great, they'll get revenue from it," she said. "But I think they lost their revenue in this little fiasco."
Jones was unavailable for comment Wednesday.
