Enchant main access road receiving repair work

Winter weather has arrived in southern Alberta and Municipal District of Taber council is hoping to do some repair work before even colder temperatures set in.

During council’s regular meeting held on Oct. 13, councillors were informed of two different surfaces within the municipality that are in need of some work.

Both the Enchant main access road into Enchant, just north of Stamp’s Seeds approach, and the Purple Oil have seen their fair share of usage which has left the roads in poor shape.

“A large boil formed in the middle of the main access road into Enchant just north of Stamp’s Seeds approach. This boil forced us to close the road and take immediate action to repair. A standard APC repair was executed but the driving surface of the patch was left as gravel allowing Public Works to monitor the integrity of the repair and surrounding area before the asphalt was placed. As the summer progressed the repair proved to hold up, however, the existing asphalt on either side of the repair is showing fatigue,” reads administration’s report on the Enchant access.

The report also touched on the Purple Oil surface.

“The Purple Oil is a cold mix road that has had many repairs and patches over the years. Overall the surface is in safe driving condition but it is a high maintenance road. During the course of repair work this summer a large blow out started to occur about one mile south of the TWP RD 9-4 intersection. The area was measured and a repair cost was calculated. Given the cost of the repair and other patchwork that needed to be done to other locations, the director of public works made the decision that the current operating budget line will not allow for an APC repair to be completed and that ripping the segment is the next best solution. The ripped segment is currently in safe driving condition and is being monitored for expansion,” reads the report.

“Over the course of the summer, we’ve had a few different repairs pop up on both the Enchant road and the Purple Oil,” director of public works Stu Weber further explained to council. “Not to mention numerous other roads as well. The one in Enchant kind of blew up early this spring and I was looking at it the other day to get it repaved again, and on either side of the repair patch, the surface is failing on both sides. I think at this point, it wouldn’t be money well spent to patch that centre section and then next spring go back in and rip out both ends.”

Weber also went into further detail on the Purple Oil situation.

“Purple Oil is a similar situation. There was a pretty large blow out to the south of 9-4. With that one, I made the choice to rip that section because we could not get it safe for travelling public so that was our only option. Further to the south, closer to 5-13, there is another large section that is breaking out down there. I think next spring it will need the same treatment. I’d like to do both of those repairs at the same time next year. We’ll put about $100,000 into the budget next year to deal with those.”

Administration gathered quotes from paving contractors which resulted in a low quote of around $10,000 for the Enchant access road, though “the current pavement on either side of the patch is fatigued and will require attention” and “to do a larger area is about $25,000 not including the cost of the subgrade repair.”