Iqaluit ponders pot-hole prevention

Iqaluit’s paved roads are a hit with drivers, but now city hall must figure out a way to pay for maintenance and prevent a suspension-killing epidemic of potholes in the spring.

Coun. Romeyn Stevenson told a meeting of Iqaluit’s engineering and public works committee the city should consider establishing a road maintenance fund, much like the funds the city stashes money in to pay for new capital needs like vehicles.

“We have to budget for the fact that it costs money to keep these roads up to standards,” Stevenson said.

Stevenson and Coun. Mary Akpalialuk were complaining about several asphalt bumps around town, including one in Apex and another on Apex Road near the 2200s.

But council wants to see more pavement, especially on the crumbling section of Apex Road past the Arctic Winter Games arena.

“We need another paving program,” said Coun. David Ell. “It’s done a lot for our air quality around town.”

Meaghan Leach, the city’s engineering director, said city crews will be checking for problem pavement, to get rough spots fixed under a warranty with the contractor.

And she said the city has been looking for funding to pay for more asphalt, so far without luck.

But despite the localized gripes, councillors heaped praise on the $12-million paving program, funded in part with money from the Government of Nunavut.

It wrapped up this summer with badly-needed repairs to a formerly bombed-out stretch of Apex Road between the hospital and Arctic Winter Games arena and some small fixes downtown.

Leach said there’s about $30,000 left from that funding, not enough to put a layer of blacktop on Saputi Road, which connects Apex Road and the Plateau Subdivision.

In an interview, she said the city isn’t yet sure how much it will cost to maintain the asphalt that now covers most city streets.

The only segments that remain unpaved are on the city outskirts, the Plateau subdivision and in areas scheduled to have utilidors installed over the next few years.