The State of West Nipissing Roads

New report examines the condition of 547km of WN roadways.

At this week’s meeting, West Nipssing council will receive a presentaton from a consultant on the state of the road network in our community. This year the municipality retained the services of D.M. Willis Associates to undertake a review of our roadways, and assess their physical condition.

West Nipissing’s road infrastructure system spans a total of 547 km. The report in this week’s agenda states that 429km (78%) of our roads are gravel and 118km (22%) are paved. Of the 118km paved, 73km is HCB (High Class Bituminous) and 45km is LCB (Low Class Bituminous).

The engineers noted that 12.1km of West Nipissing’s streets have a structural rating of “NOW”. The report goes on to explain that a NOW rating means “that a significant portion of the road is showing distress of the road bed and requires significant intervention.”

A further 24.5km of roads have a structural rating of becoming a “NOW” in 1-5 years. Meaning significant intervention is required within the next five years. 34km of roads have a structural rating of becoming a “NOW” in 1-10 years.

Overall the engineer noted that “A significant portion of the Municipality’s roads are approaching a condition that will require reconstruction, as opposed to less costly resurfacing”.

D.M. Willis Associates estimates that the cost of addressing the roads that need to be fixed within the next 10 years is $18.2M. The report ends with a recommendation to create a 10-year plan allocating $4.5M per year for resurfacing (to avoid reconstructions) and spending $1.8M per year on capital needs to eventually address all the roads in need.

Council will receive this report and discuss it on Tuesday night.

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