The following posting is a staff response to a question regarding the length of time to complete the Victoria Rd / Eramosa Rd intersection improvement project.
The City is undertaking a considerable number of road construction projects over the next year or so and I thought this perspective may be of interest to other residents. ian
As you can appreciate these types of reconstruction projects are complicated to design and implement and involve numerous phases of construction to complete underground infrastructure, utility work and final stages of surface work. In most cases these types of projects very typically take one or more years to complete from start of construction through placing of the final asphalt surface. What you and your neighbours were experiencing on Tuesday evening was one of the final stages which was to complete the surface asphalt works.
For construction work of this nature, the City provides written notification to the residents directly affected within the work zone and in this case, notifications were delivered to those residents informing them of the asphalt work. It appears that your residence may not have received a notification as it is located outside the limit of the construction area.A schedule is planned and in advance of the final asphalt work that includes surface works such as sidewalk repairs, driveways, and structures with lids in the street require to be lifted up to meet the surface asphalt. In this case and due to the location and numbers of structures and traffic impacts, the contractor starts the restoration work generally two or so weeks in advance in order that if weather closes in, they generally have enough time in the schedule to complete the surface work.
On Tuesday evening, a City representative arrived at the site about 5:45 pm and met with the contractor and police to implement the traffic control plan. It is a requirement under the Highway Traffic Act that police are the only ones that can direct traffic against or contrary to traffic sigals. This was the case at this intersection and it was planned in advance of the work that the police were to be on site.
The methodology used for a paving operation such as this requires the equipment to be fired and maintained at a specified temperature as hot mix asphalt is maintained and laid at a temperature around 120 degrees celsius and therefore, the equipment does take significant time to achieve and maintain that temperature constantly. Other construction vehicles are used for traffic control, material supply and staff and these vehicles generally move around the site during the paving operation. It is unfortunate that when you were directed to a supervisor that you were not directed to speak to our City representative to which a more cordial and complete explanation could have been communicated. City staff that were on site that evening spoke with many residents who were interested in the paving project and I believe the discussions they had with most residents was positive.
Web site postings, City Page ads, letter notifications and Public Information Centres are methods that we use to communicate construction project details with the public. I thank you for your feedback as it notes some matters where I believe we can improve our communications and practices in the future. Staff