Prince George, B.C.-  The sign says it all, ‘Expect Major Delays’…

 

Motorists are being advised to avoid 15th Avenue between Ospika Boulevard and Central this week, as paving is set to roll today through Friday.  The two-week delayed provincial project – re-paving the intersection of Highways 16 and 97 – is also set to begin today.

 

Also on tap this week – three major road rehab projects:

 

The first on the list is Massey Drive between Carney and Westwood. The rehabilitation of these 5.814 lane kilometres will cost $775 thousand dollars will take about one week to  complete if the weather cooperates.

 

The next project, set to start on Wednesday is Winnipeg Street from 4^th to 13^th Avenues.   3.335 lane kilometres will be repaired at a cost of $278 thousand and it will take about a week to complete.

 

The third major project  in the stretch of Domano Boulevard between Trent Drive and Gladstone Drive. That work will cover 4.4 lane kilometres at a cost of $473 thousand and will take one week to complete. The work is set to start on Thursday.

 

Domano and Massey were both named on the BCAA survey of worst roads in the province. Domano was ranked 2^nd worst in B.C., behind Westside Road in Kelowna. Massey was ranked number 6 on the top ten worst roads list. Last week, crews worked on 15^th Avenue which was ranked as the 7^th worst road in the province, and the 3^rd worst road was Tabor Boulevard which was added to the road rehab list after City Council  agreed to borrow money from another  fund to help increase the road rehab budget for the year. Repairs to Tabor are set for later in the season.

 

The condition of the roads has lead to numerous claims being filed against the City for   damage to vehicles.

 

So far, there have been 24 pothole property damage claims filed against the City.   That is for the first 6 months of 2012. Last year, there were 39 claims filed for the whole year, up from the 7 filed in all of 2010. In 2009, there were 71 claims filed.