Thud.
That was the collective sound of the jaws of Westlock County ratepayers hitting the floor after reading our 1,281-word Page 4-5 story on the municipality’s 2018 Road Study report.
It’s a long, indepth piece on a subject that’s near and dear to many, but here’s the Coles Notes version — 99 per cent of the municipality’s 2,305 kilometres of roads are ranked “moderate” or “good.”
Thud, there they went again.
For the people gazing out their window at the potholes they’ve named “Bumpy” and “Rattle” because they’ve been there for so long, the 614-page report will probably be dismissed.
The long-held perception is that the roads in the county, to put it bluntly, stink and some fancy-dancy report won’t convince most otherwise.
“As the results came back, I was a little surprised based on the feedback I’ve received over the two years I’ve been with Westlock County,” county infrastructure director Al Scott told council Nov. 13.
It’s our take that dismissing the report, which was budgeted at $100,000, would be a mistake.
See folks, the document isn’t meant to address the lone pothole, or washboard, or any number of other valid complaints you have that are supposed to be fixed as part of the county’s ongoing maintenance/gravelling program.
What this document is meant to do is show the overall condition of the road network as of right now and chart a 10-year course for the municipality to engage in annual seven-figure work on the truly horrendous stretches.
Two Stantec employees drove ALL of the roads June 12-22 while compiling data for the document.
Their work and the numbers they compiled will undoubtedly be debated in coffee shops, but we’ll side with Scott, who emphatically stated his faith in the findings.
“I fully stand behind the information that was gathered and collected,” he said.
But if you’re still skeptical we suggest you do some homework. Read the 20-page summary and then ask the county for the specific data from the full report on your road and make up your own mind.
