Drivers in the Saskatchewan Rural Municipality of Hoodoo may be taking detours for some time.
It could take years to fix all the road damage caused by spring flooding in the Cudworth-Wakaw region.
Provincial assessors recently identified 101 areas that need attention, RM administrator Catherine Mazurkewich said.
“Some roads we won’t ever be able to repair.”
For example, one road built up last year is now under nearly three metres of water. A boat would be a better mode of transport there, she said.
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Repairs required in the 101 cases range from replacing culverts and applying extra gravel to complete road rebuilding.
Mazurkewich said this will cost the RM an estimated $850,000.
Taxes have gone up to pay for the work, extra labour and equipment and Mazurkewich said everyone is frustrated.
Some of the largest projects have not yet been completed although she said work has been done in about half the municipality.
While resources are dedicated to those types of repairs, the regular maintenance such as grading and mowing must wait.
Ken Engel, executive director of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, said municipalities are coping as best they can.
The provincial government has helped by providing extra money to cover the deductible municipalities pay under the provincial disaster assistance program.
However, contractor equipment is in demand and comes at a premium cost, Engel said.
“The only alternative municipalities have is to use their own equipment.”
Rural municipalities have in the past been compensated for fuel and lubrication when using their own equipment to do such repairs.
Engel said the provincial government this year has agreed to increase that to 40 percent of contractor cost, as determined by the provincial road builders association.
The real cost would actually be closer to 75 percent of what contractors charge, Engel said.
Aside from emergency repairs, he said municipalities also need more money to deal with an infrastructure deficit.
Engel said 20 percent of the rural bridges in Saskatchewan are at the end of their expected lifespan. A study done in 1984 found replacing the bridges built between 1955 and 1974 would cost $250 million.
“What would that be in today’s dollars? Some of those bridges are … structurally deficient due to age. We already know that.”
There is also a shortage of bridge engineers to do the work.
As far as roads are concerned, the federal prairie grain roads program has expired with only about half the 12,000 kilometres identified as needing help upgraded to standard.
An estimated $458 million is required to complete the project.
“There is a need for some new programs,”
Engel said. “We’re looking to the federal government and the provincial government.”
