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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Rick Thatcher, a cab driver with Aurora Taxi, doesn't mince words when talking about the city's roads.

Yvan Brien, owner of YB Services says Deh Cho Boulevard has to be one of the worst because of the dust. "I live and work nearby and everything gets covered in dust because of people flying by on this road. There is not enough calcium being put on the road." -

"I would have to say Yellowknife has some of the worst roads in Canada," said Thatcher, while parked in his cab outside Wal-Mart yesterday morning.

He adds Finlayson Drive and Deh Cho Boulevard are particularly bad a sentiment shared by a Superior Propane delivery driver who had plenty to say although he didn't give his name.

The city shouldn't be spending money on trees on Old Airport Road," he said, before speeding away.

Not everyone Yellowknifer spoke with had something bad to say about the state of the city's roads. But one thing is clear, city council didn't put a lot of money into them this year.

According to the 2012 budget, roadwork spending is "historically low." The target was $1.6 million but administration recommended to council that $1.2 million be diverted to the corrugated pipe replacement program to replace water and sewer lines instead.

The $400,000 that remained was topped up with $300,000 from the Yellowknives Dene to complete paving in Ndilo, but that work also required $300,000 from the city, meaning that out of the $700,000 road rehabilitation budget at the start of the year only $100,000 remained to fix city sidewalks and streets. Last year the budget was $2.5 million.

"It was certainly a disappointment for me and I indicated at the budget discussions that the $100,000 to look after the roads certainly was not adequate," said city councillor David Wind.

"To do just patching was not satisfactory this year when we had so many roads in bad shape - Finlayson Drive and Deh Cho Boulevard being among them."

Year-to-year funding should be in the $2 million to $3 million range, he said.

The city is planning some major road reconstruction projects over the next three years, including Deh Cho Boulevard, paving in Old Town and completion of roadwork at DeWeerdt Drive, Driscoll Road and Haener Drive at Niven Lake.

It may even go beyond that after city council approved a bylaw to borrow $20 million in April to help address an overall $74.1 million infrastructure deficit. Part of that deficit includes fixing crumbling roads and sidewalks.

"By allocating an additional $7 million to the road and sidewalk improvement program over the next five years, the city will be able to address the majority of the resurfacing requirements," reads a city memo from March 19.

The extra injection of money means road and sidewalk projects, in some cases not due for repairs until the 2020s, will be wrapped up in the next five years, said Mayor Gord Van Tighem.

While those projects won't be decided until after a new council is elected this fall, he is hopeful the infrastructure deficit will be reduced to around $30 million after the five-year investment is complete.

"There are the planned (in principle) projects right now, but between now and (the end of the year) there will be a kick-in of an asset management plan," he said.

"In that plan will be other projects announced at a prioritized basis. We haven't got to the point of formalizing that (plan) because it ties into the budget cycle. By the end of November or early December there will be a pretty clear vision of what needs to be done."

The asset management plan includes an inventory of all the streets in the city.

All routes have been tested by administration in the last year to determine the life cycles of the pavement and sidewalks. Based on that information, the city has laid out dates for when those projects should be done.

Other roadwork could still get bumped up in priority if an emergency takes place, such as sudden water and sewer line breakages, said Van Tighem.

He called this summer a normal construction year, pointing out that the corrugated pipe replacement program - budgeted at $2.2 million for this years - includes paving on roads once the pipes have been replaced.

This allowed long-awaited paving work to begin on DeWeerdt as well as Driscoll, and water and sewer work on Matonabee Street, Byrne Road, Lanky Court, Horton Crescent, Knutsen Avenue and part of Con Road.

"There is the $700,000 which is rehabilitation, but there is also $2.2 million in water and sewer projects where roads are done at the same time," he said.

Coun. Cory Vanthuyne said the city is in an interesting period in its history because the infrastructure planning in place is being done for the first time with the view of Yellowknife as a permanent community.

When some of the road, water and sewer infrastructure was built 30 or more years ago, the view of Yellowknife at city hall was of a temporary, blue-collar mining community.

"With the privilege of growing up as a Northerner, I am appreciative of where we are and where we are heading when considering the lifetime of the streets of Yellowknife," he said. "I can remember when half of all the streets here were gravel."

At the same time, he questions whether a new council will have the "wherewithal" to make the tough decisions required for future roadwork.

"One of the first priorities for the new council literally is going to be dealing with the budget," he said, pointing out residents will always press council on why a particular road is being done over another.

"I remember going through it my first year and it was a very, very difficult process leading up to the deliberations in November and December."

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