RESIDENTS ARE to be asked to do their part to help fix local roads, documents obtained from city hall reveal.
Under heavy criticism because of potholes the size of small lakes and of a general deterioration of the city's road network, city council has developed the Terrace Road Recovery and Recycling Assistance Program (TRRRAP).
Central to the plan would be a massive volunteer effort on the part of the city's residents which would begin at noon on a date yet to be established.
At that noon time, signaled by the city's emergency siren warning network, residents using brooms, dust pans and buckets would sweep up all of the past winter's accumulated sand and grit on the streets in front of their homes.
Then either on foot or in vehicles, residents would proceed to a central asphalt plant location where, in an orderly fashion, they would line up and have their sweepings mixed with a recycled oil product to produce an asphalt-like patching material.
Returning home, residents would then use the material to fill potholes and cracks, carefully tamping in the mixture for a smooth as possible finish.
City officials have expressed satisfaction with TRRRAP, saying it combines a number of functions.
Topping the list is the annual quandary of dealing with a winter's worth of sand and grit.
“It's not only unsightly but using mechanical sweepers kicks up a cloud and overall, it's expensive to deal with,” states a city planning document.
“And because we will not need to use mechanical sweepers and city work crews, we can devote those resources to the asphalt plant.”
The sheer volume of volunteer residential labour will further buffer the annual agony the city goes through in trying to find enough money for fixing roads.
“Beautification, dust control, recycling, volunteer labour, innovation. This plan has it all,” the document continues.
“If it works in the city, just think of what we can do with the airport industrial park,. We've got the TRRRAPpings for success here,” it concludes.
TRRRAP could be approved as early as today. Which is April 1. April Fool's Day.