Until now, the decision about where and when to repave roads in Squamish was somewhat arbitrary, but thanks to the 2010 pavement management study's detailed analysis, district staff promise there is now a method to their paving madness.
"Our roads are one of the biggest financial assets that we have and it's extremely important that we manage them properly," said engineering manager Brian Barnett when he presented the study and the 2011 paving program to council on May 17.
Barnett said he's unsure how the decisions on which roads would be paved was determined in the past, but the 2011 paving program specifies when and which roads in Squamish should be repaved over the next five years.
"This is good to have, because I've never been able to answer how we determine which roads take priority to be paved," said Mayor Greg Gardner.
From the back of council chambers, local political watchdog Terrill Patterson replied: "That's because it depends where the council members live at the time."
Other than a few chuckles, Patterson's comment went unacknowledged and Barnett went on to explain the costs associated with paving.
In the 2011 budget, there is $1 million allocated for paving, and unlike several other departments, there is no backlog of bad roads the district needs to catch up on.
"There is no backlog to address and three-quarters of the roads in Squamish are in pretty good shape," Barnett said.
"The current situation will happen every year as long as the roads are being used."
Barnett said only four per cent of the roads in Squamish are in very poor shape. They include Scott Crescent and Government Road in front of the West Coast Railway Heritage Park.
He said the data collected during the pavement management study is particularly useful to assessing when pavement should be replaced, a measure that can save hundreds of thousands of dollars.
That's because the cost difference between repairing the top layer of road - the asphalt - and the base layer is substantial. Asphalt costs $4 per metre of roadway to replace whereas the base layer costs $45 per metre.
"The condition of the road is kind of good, then it starts to drop off and then the replacement cost just skyrockets," he said. "Recognizing that, you have this sort of sharp curve in terms of cost. You have to hit it just before it gets up that curve."
He said it's fine if the surface falls apart but once water gets into the bottom layers, it starts to break up, leading to the more expensive type of repair.
"So there needs to be enough data collected to know when a road enters that critical zone, but before it reaches the expensive zone," he said.
The data to which Barnett is referring was collected this year by a special machine, one of two in Western Canada.
It has 19 laser beams on the front bumper that scan the surface of the road looking for cracks, potholes and smoothness. It has six GPS satellite dishes on top to pinpoint exactly where the scans are being taken and it also takes high-resolution photographs every few metres so the engineering department has a digital record of the roads.
The data has helped outline the next five years of paving priorities, but Barnett said there are several factors to be considered.
Determining which roads should be paved when is complex because it makes sense to replace a road at the same time a water or sewer system in the area needs to be replaced, he said.
Roads to be paved this year include parts of 5th Avenue, Buckley Avenue, Finch Drive, Glacier View Place, Hemlock Avenue, Loggers Lane, Main Street, Mamquam Road, McNamee Road, Paisley Place, Peebles Place, Perth Drive, Pierowall Place, Vancouver Street, Victoria Street and the entire length of Skyline Driveway Access and Alder Place.
