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Severe winter took a big toll on Chilliwack roads

It’s $3-million price tag for Chilliwack road repair after a bad winter
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Potholes became a common sight on Chilliwack Roads after a terrible winter, like this one on Yale Road East. (Jenna Hauck/Progress file)

This past winter hit Chilliwack roads and trees hard.

City of Chilliwack is going ahead with a $3-million road rehab list for 2017 — to repair those roads in a sorry state after a severe winter wallop.

In fact, city staff had to put the road list on hold last week, based on the need to tackle those in the most deteriorated state.

It started affecting ride quality and public safety on some roads, so it’s become a top priority.

Two pothole patching crews have been going at the work at full bore.

“We should be caught up in a few weeks,” said Glen MacPherson, Director of Operations, in his report to council Tuesday.

“The winter weather of 2016-17 has accelerated road deterioration throughout the community,” according to the staff report.

MacPherson underlined it was as “severe a winter” as anyone can recall, with many potholes showing up on some of the major routes, and hundreds of trees destroyed.

“It’s more than we’ve seen in years,” he informed council.

They are encouraging residents to call the operations department to report any potholes that remain at 604-793-2810.

Coun. Chuck Stam gave a word of thanks to city staff for being responsive “to the actual needs on the ground” in terms of road repair.

The list will see work performed on: Chilliwack River Road, Chilliwack Central Road, Prest Road, Vedder Road and more that were most affected by winter extremes.

Two sections of Yarrow Road in need of repaving came up in discussion raised by Coun. Jason Lum, but they will likely have to wait until next year.

As far as tree damage, the ice storm in February was also “devastating” in that regard with 300 trees in parks or on the street that had to come down.

“Every tree removed will be replaced,” MacPherson noted.



Jennifer Feinberg

About the Author: Jennifer Feinberg

I have been a Chilliwack Progress reporter for 20+ years, covering the arts, city hall, as well as Indigenous, and climate change stories.
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