Road Improvements Underway in Cold Lake

After a boost in the budget earlier this year, the Capital Road Improvement Program has taken off for 2017.

“The areas that we focus on are usually streets that see a lot of traffic,” said City of Cold Lake’s Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Nagoya. “We want to keep them up to standard, and the Capital Road Improvement Program gives us the opportunity to prioritize which infrastructure needs resurfacing.”

The Capital Road Improvement Program is governed under a road analytics program, which uses a software that analyzes the surface distress index of roadways and degradation curves to assist in making decisions on pavement resurfacing. This way the life of the asphalt can be extended before the pavement requires total replacement, which is a more costly procedure.

In May, it was announced that with funding from the Basic Municipal Transportation Grant, and the Municipal Sustainability Initiative, an extra $1 million was added to the budget for road improvements, increasing the total to $1.75 million.

The following areas are included in 2017:

• 1 Avenue (23 Street to 25 Street)
• 51 Street (50 Avenue to 54 Avenue)
• 25 Street (1 Avenue to 3 Avenue)
• 16 Avenue (6 Street to 8 Street)
• Sammut Place

This year also will see special attention paid to 54 Avenue, which includes the placement of a new paved surface and sidewalk from 49 Street to 45 Street. Construction is expected to begin at the end of August, for Phase 1, where the first lift of asphalt will be completed. Phase 2 is expected to take place in 2018, which will include the second lift of asphalt and a sidewalk on the north side of the street. Construction for this project was tendered out for $983,550, and is separate from the Capital Roads Improvement Program budget.