Chipseal set for summer start
Million-dollar project could save $250,000 annually in patchwork road repairs
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, April 7, 2016
DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE
In a move that could see $250,000 a year in savings, infrastructure funding for Fort Providence will see the hamlet's main municipal road get a full chipseal this summer.
The main municipal road in Fort Providence is due for chipsealing this summer. - April Hudson/NNSL photo
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Funding amounting to $396,000 was announced March 16 by the federal and territorial governments under the federal Small Communities Fund. That money will go toward offsetting costs for the million-dollar project.
Mayor Sam Gargan called the project essential to maintaining the hamlet's roadway. Hamlet councillors chose the road rehabilitation project over the prospect of continually patching the roadway year after year, as they have been doing up until this point.
"We really need to upgrade (the road) so we do not need to patch it every year. I think it's better to spend (money on) getting it to the proper grade so we don't have to do any further repairs," Gargan said.
Although he could not speak to exact figures, Gargan estimated patching the road costs the hamlet upward of $250,000 every year.
The chipsealing project is currently expected to launch in July.
Gargan said the road rehabilitation will tie into a chipsealing project taking place between Fort Providence and Behchoko over the summer.
"We understand there is going to be chipseal reconstruction done (there), so we decided to use the opportunity for (the highway chipsealers) to do the chipseal in the community," he said.
Fort Providence's road rehabilitation project was one of 13 to gain approval under the Small Communities Fund. That funding program will run until March 31, 2024.
The project comes five years after the completion of the hamlet's last chipsealing project, which wrapped up in August 2011.
At that time, the hamlet paid $3 million to pave 12 kilometres of the hamlet's streets with the exception of the industrial area.
Prior to 2011, the main street had been chipsealed in 2003.
Aside from the roadway through Fort Providence, Gargan said the community also has plans to construct an arbour in an open field behind the old hamlet nursing station.
Gargan did not say when that project is expected to launch. The hamlet is currently nailing down an engineer for the project.
"We've decided to go with an arbour that can see somewhere around 600 people," Gargan said.
"We do have a bit of money set aside for these types of things."
The project's cost is currently estimated at $750,000.
