Dear Sir:
Driving around Terrace a person can't help but notice the horrific condition of our streets. There are cracks and holes and broken pavement everywhere.
This is the result of virtually no maintenance over the past few years. Spending almost $172,000 to patch a couple of Terrace's worst streets is sadly just too little too late. If the city had just spent a fraction of that money on maintenance over the last few years a lot of the streets in Terrace would not be in the terrible condition that they are in.
In years past, in the late summer and fall someone would go out and mark the defects that needed repaired with orange paint. A while later they would be filled with asphalt or a tar like substance. The last time I saw this being done was in the fall of 2007, and even then they stopped before all the marked defects were repaired.
Water leaking through these cracks and holes in the surface erodes the foundation the road is built on resulting in the asphalt breaking up making more and larger holes.
During the winter months the cracks and holes in the asphalt allow the road base to become saturated with water causing it to heave upward breaking up the asphalt even worse with every freeze thaw cycle. The end result is extensive and costly damage. The street will have to be dug up, the road base rebuilt, and then repaved.
Asphalt has a life expectancy, however proper maintenance can greatly extend the life of the road surface. Street maintenance is very inexpensive compared to rebuilding and repaving. Spend a few dollars in the fall every year and save hundreds of thousands, if not millions, later on.
Upper Thornhill was repaved last summer. The streets were not in nearly as bad of condition as Terrace’s. The asphalt was recycled and reapplied to the still intact road bed. Had they waited a few more years the road bed would have had to have been dug up and rebuilt driving the cost up considerably.
I doubt that most people realize the magnitude of what has been allowed to happen. Terrace's city council has done Terrace's residents a tremendous injustice by spending monies on luxuries like a new band shell, that wheel thing at the overpass, and purchasing property to extend the millennium trail to name just a few. While allowing potentially millions, of dollars of avoidable damage to occur to the city’s infrastructure.
The damage that occurred over the last winter is nothing compared to what we will see in future years if this neglect is allowed to continue. Terrace residents are likely in for some hefty tax increases when this has to be dealt with.
And now city council has $375,000 in excess cash? It's not excess money it's hard earned tax dollars.
I cannot believe that city council would even consider spending it to tear down the old CO-OP building or giving it to the My Mountain Ski Hill when a need like this exists!
Terry Glover,
Terrace, BC