Last year there was no money at all allocated to sidewalk rehabilitation! This year it’s zero again?

Give us a break! There is only one sidewalk in my neighbourhood! It’s too narrow, too steeply slanted towards the curb, potholed and cracked, in fact it has a power pole right in the middle of it, and it is impossible for anyone in a mobility device to use as there are too few curb cuts. Same goes for child carriages or shopping carts! Even in the summer people will walk in the street because the improperly sloped sidewalk is too hard on ankles and feet. In the winter it is never cleaned or sanded properly.

But, we do have tens of millions of dollars for Winter Games, a once in 50 years flood dike and who knows what’s to come next!

For the life of me I do not understand why new sidewalks are going to be installed when inadequate sidewalks are still out there.

By new sidewalks being put in place, it tells me that with a limited budget, the new sidewalks are more important than the old sidewalks that have boken pavement, dangerous slopes, and utility poles which force people to walk/ride on the vehicular part of the road.

Ospika to Vanier is 280 metres. That works out to $750/metre.

There is an asphalt sidewalk on Pinewood from Vanier to Westwood. Also one on Vanier to Dufferin; Dufferin to Ospika; and on Ospika from Dufferin to Pinewood.

Other than Ospika, the others mentioned above all have the PG special light standards in the middle of the sidewalk specification.

So, the question is, are we going to stay to that standard or move the poles and a hydrant that is in the way, or put the sidewalk in the location where it was originally planned – a metre or so from the curb where more civilized communities typically have sidewalks for a variety of safety reasons.

The big question, of course, is why is a subdivison that has existed for probably 30 to 40 decades suddenly getting a $250,000 sidewalk when other areas have substandard sidewalks that are more dangerous to use than the adjacent road surface?

Oh, I know that this is micro managing, but do Councillors agree with this based on the above information? If so, they have some serious explanation to do to the citizens.

Oh, Councillors who care do not even have to take a drive around town to get the info I posted above. Install Google Earth on your computer and go into streetview and take a tour around the City to see those details.

I watched the city work for over 2 weeks on a piece of sidewalk/curb on 18th ave in front of several private businesses last year for over 2 weeks. Meanwhile 18th and 22nd between the bypass and ospika have got to be a couple of the worse roads in prince george. Don’t know why that particular piece of curb was special. It is pretty much right across the road from the city works on 18th though. Maybe someone there didn’t like the view they had from thier office.

I walk a lot, by choice. Between the bad air, the idiot drivers (I follow all the pedestrian rules) and the lack of a safe place to walk, I sometimes wonder why I bother. I have fallen too many times to count, on potholes, broken pavement, ice, snowbanks…it’s sad that I cannot safely make a healthy lifestyle choice in this city.

Yep, it’s expensive to repair a sidewalk. But you know what? It’s more expensive to treat a hip fracture, broken ankle or whatever other injury i migth get while out there. I can’t even imagine how peple with disabilities or seniors or parents with strollers manage out there. NO wonder everyone who can drives!

You know, all those athletes who are coming for 2015 are going to want to be out there exercising during their downtime..I know what athletes are like! They will want to explore the city. Most won’t have transportation. It will be interesting to see if sidealks get anyu help before they come!

If you have the Money you don’t retire in PG. Climate, Air, Roads, Sidewalks are not easy on the Seniors. Some of the Oldtimers will say I like it here, but most who can will leave! Fact check your declining Population.

Sidewalks with a built in slant, who thought of that brilliant idea. Awkward to walk on in the best of conditions. Impossible when slippery. In a wheelchair, forget it. Notice how many people use a roadway even when there is a sidewalk. Have a look at the well worn path besides the sidewalks on university way, just why are they there, no slant.

Tyner Way, there was a perfectly good gravel path then it got paved for 500,000 for what? Heck it is not even paved all the way to the uni, so what was the point?

That money could have been spent on sidewalk repairs around town and a very badly needed sidewalk or pathway on the frontage road connecting Bon Voyage, Westgate and the Walmart shopping area. Narrow road next to no shoulder and lots of traffic and many pedestrians.

The money spent on the Tyner yuppie trot blows me away.

With our aging demographics the City better put some money into their rotting sidewalks; nobody going to stay here in their retirement years if the City doesn’t improve them. Having studied and working with seniors and seniors issues, I have sure noticed that our winter sidewalks are downright dangerous. But let’s spend $3 million on a dike on River Road that only affects a small portion of the population.

It amazing they plow the sidewalk all the way up ospika from 5th avenue to Tyner Bulevard on both side of the street.

The other day I saw a sidewalk plow pushing the snow over from a bare sidewalk.Whuy would they do that?

I have been walking for many years but have never fallen. Good footware is important and in the summers Moores Meadow and the Ginter property are a great diversion. These are areas that,the City is tryng to destroy but havent gotten there yet other then dogs that are out of control.
Cheers

It’s funny how everyone wants these sidewalks. Sounds great until you start adding up the cost of this infrastructure. $750/metre….WOW that is a big number. Start thinking if you had to start from scratch to install sidewalks for PG and had to cover the 600KM of roadways that would work out to $450 Million Dollars. Pretty big sum of money if you ask me!!! No wonder the $250K that the City allocates doesn’t really do much.

So lets raise taxes to pay for this…….but that’s when the real bellyaching starts whenever someone suggests this. I would like a nice City that looks after its Citizens. A few more dollars a year from each homeowner would make this happen.

mwk 500,000 grand on Tyner without even blinking.

Oh right its related to the uni so anything goes, my bad.

The slanted sidewalks are so that the water will not stay on the sidewalks and therefore will not freeze to ice. Well, that is what City operations told me. Well guess what, it does ice up and now the everyone have the added problem of a slopping icy sidewalk. In some places the slope is so bad that it is dangerous for anyone as if one fell they would fall into the traffic.

Also the curb cuts are usually so steep that they are built for people with upper body strengh, not seniors with walkers. Even then not all handicap people can stop on the cuts. Once I had to ignore a new green light at a busy intersection as the man in a wheel chair could not stop and was heading down the cut into the intersection. I will never forget the expression on his face when he though that he was going to be hit and then look of relief when he realized that I had stopped for him. By the way the vehicles behind me were not happy.

You know since I`v moved here I have noticed a lot of folks making the choice to put down the doughnut and dust off the old bicycle or walking sneakers. I notice more and more people cycling to and from work from What we have for a spring to late summer.It would be nice if this were a bike and pedestrian friendly town.

I think city council is squirreling money away so they can buy new chairs in the council chambers after their fat asses ruin the ones they are using…

What’s with the slant? I get that they think the water will run off not become ice but seriously? Slanted ice is so much better than flat ice? Really?? Makes me think enginers dont ever walk nowhere.

the city should be encourageing pedestrians and bikers because it’s far healthier than sitting in a car. it’s teh way of the future. build more in the centre, which reduces infrastructure costs for water/sewer and can use the savings for sidealks so citizens can acutlaly use and enjoy the city.

Accessibility Committee? Hmmm? I seldom go downtown, but when I did I found that that nice bakery on George Street had a little curb in front of the doorway. My guess is they can afford to turn away wheelchair customers. Have they fixed it yet? I can’t claim my curiosity justifys another trip downtown.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11689678@N08/

The sidewalks suck, the roads are worse, only national media attention gets a road fixed. Heres a thought, why not videotape/record/etc..elderly people and pregnant women falling and hurting themselves on our sidewalks?, send it to CBC and hopefully get a media story about it?? That way we’ll get all the sidewalks fixed!!! We’ll still have no snow budget, but who cares?? we’ll just tape a couple of tourists getting killed in car wrecks in the snow next year and we’ll get that budget fixed up in no time..my point is our bitching and complaining is an absolute waste of time, until it becomes news on a national scale…then and only then do the politicians give a crap about what we think!! So if you feel like your going to fall, pull out your cell, and tape it!! Have a good one, and then send the video to CBC or Rick Mercer with a nice little blurb about the city of Prince George…we should get a visit from the media and a new sidewalk or road…maybe they even name it after us, depending on how badly we break something!!! ..;)
Welcome to Prince George, the armpit of the North!! thanks to the politicians who don’t give a sh*t about it!! too bad because the people are truly special!! I wonder how long the politicians have lived here, and why they’re not like the other people i meet here??? go figure..

Potholes in the sidewalks?

Darn it! Thats where I’ve been driving to avoid them on our streets.

Now what’ll I do?

Here are a few suggestions
1- continue to increase taxes in order to pay for all the aging infrastructure that requires repair or replacement, never a popular solution with the majority.
2- start utilizing prison workers as they do in parts of the US, chain gangs would have all the pot holes fixed up asap. But am sure the unionize city works and prisoners rights groups would put a halt to that.
3- rip up the pavement and concrete turning it back to gravel base only. Many places that can not raise capital to repair or replace aging road infrastructure are having to do this. Gravel roads cost far less to maintain and repair, is this a step backwards? Perhaps but having gravel roads and streets for a few years may help soften the public option on option one higher taxes to pay the streets again.

That’s funny Dragonmaster :)

“Perhaps but having gravel roads and streets for a few years may help” … to improve the air quality????

“When [counties] had lots of money, they paved a lot of the roads and tried to make life easier for the people who lived out here,” said Stutsman County Highway Superintendant Mike Zimmerman, sifting the dusty black rubble through his fingers. “Now, it’s catching up to them.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704913304575370950363737746.html

Makes sense when the rural population is declining. Of course, maintaining the roads is going to be more exensive. They look nice when they are first reverted to “gravel”, but that will not last long. People will long for winter months. The other three seasons all have their problems.

As far as converting Ospika, etc to gravel roads, good luck.