Residents might be disappointed to hear that Gurneyville Road will not be paved in 2016.
Residents might be disappointed to hear that Gurneyville Road will not be paved in 2016.
The MD of Bonnyville council decided to turn down a request by Bonnyville Town Council to pave the portion of Gurneyville Road that falls within town limits this year.
Under the Inter-Municipal Cooperation Program (IMC), recently announced by the MD, the town can ask to cost-share paving the 1.4-kilometre stretch of road within town limits. The town sought the MD's assistance in including that section in their 2016 construction schedule, given the amount of traffic coming into the town and the number of Bonnyville residents that use it to access the rodeo grounds several times a year.
"It's still a priority with the MD, the problem is that we have had experience in the past with building a lot of roads, and that stretch of road, especially those first two miles, there were a lot of problems," said Reeve Ed Rondeau. "There was a lot poor fill underneath that had to be removed and replaced, there were a lot of wet materials and giving it that extra year will only make that road better."
Although Bonnyville Mayor Gene Sobolewski is understanding of the MD's decision, he said a lot of residents that use Gurneyville Road frequently will not be happy to hear the road will remain unpaved in 2016.
"The MD has elected to go with priorities the way they have and we have to respect that, but I have a feeling that there's going to be an awful lot of upset residents that are going to be traversing that road during the spring and the summer and dust is going to be an issue."
MD of Bonnyville CAO Chris Cambridge told MD council that, if allocated funds from the IMC, the arrangement would involve the town picking up approximately 53 per cent of construction costs and the MD footing the other 47 per cent.
In their estimate, the town believes that it would cost somewhere between $800,000 and $1 million to pave the town's portion of the road. The town was prepared to allocate $500,000 of their 2016 road capital funding for the project, to be matched with funds from the IMC in order to get the road completed in 2016.
Alternatively, the town suggested that the entire cost of the 1.4-kilometre stretch of road could be matched with a similar portion of road in the MD, ideally the first two miles of road just outside town limits.
"If we cover it now and there's still some moisture trapped underneath, it'll forever be a problem," Rondeau said. "It'll impede the quality of that road and if we wait that extra year I think we'll definitely have a much better road."
The MD recently got the support of Bonnyville Town Council to apply for an Alberta Communities Partnership (ACP) grant to receive up to $350,000 from the province for paving Gurneyville Road. If the grant is approved, the MD can use the provincial funds to begin work on the road any time in 2016, 2017 or 2018.
However, the MD intends to begin paving the road as planned in 2017.
