Construction crews will soon begin repairing the pothole-ridden Decalta Road in Turner Valley, which runs from 16th Avenue to Main Street, after it was damaged by heavy equipment used to repair and further strengthen parts of the road and bridge that were damaged in the 2013 flooding of the Sheep River.
“It will be one lane traffic most of the time,” said Barry Williamson, the Town’s chief administrative officer. “There may be some occasional rerouting when we have to have a day or two of complete closure. We are looking at trying to have this completed by the end of September. We are just happy to bring this portion of the project to a close.”
The provincial Disaster Recovery Program and Flood Recovery Erosion Control programs will cover two-thirds of the construction costs, Williamson said.
The total cost of the project is $900,000, including a pathway that will run beside the road.
Williamson said the Town received several complaints from residents about the condition of the badly damaged road over the years, but repaving had to be put off until erosion protection work on Decalta bridge was complete.
Kelly Watson, who’s lived on Decalta Road the last 20 years, said the potholes are so bad she takes the quickest route to 16th Avenue to avoid the road.
She said the dust was horrible, especially during the Diamond Valley Parade in June.
Harding and other residents on the street were given free car wash tickets, but she said she would have also liked to have her house cleaned because the dust was so bad.
“We couldn’t open our windows or doors,” she said.
“Our vehicles and houses are so dirty.”
Harding submitted a petition to the Town along with signatures from 30 other residents over the potholes, dust and speeding on Decalta Road.
In the letter she asked that the Town include speed bumps when they repave the road. Harding is concerned the newly paved road will further exacerbate speeding motorists.
“We are concerned that once they pave it it’s going to be worse,” she said. “It starts from six in the morning to midnight.”
Williamson said speed bumps will not be included in the project due to the increased cost, safety concerns for cyclists and motorcycles and the potential for motorists to drive on the shoulder in the residential area to avoid the bumps, leading to other safety concerns.
He said the Town of Turner Valley had plans before the flood to repave the road due to its history of requiring regular maintenance, yet a date hadn’t been set.
After the flood, the condition of the road progressively deteriorated, he said.
“Of course the life of the road completely changed once the flood occurred,” he said. “Not only did the flood take out a big chunk of the road, but the traffic on the road due to flood recovery just reduced the life of the road completely.”
Work was ongoing to protect water wells and bridge supports in the Sheep River as future flood protection measures and the Town applied a substance to reduce dust and graded the road to address the concerns temporarily, Williamson said.
“We were grading on a fairly regular basis and using glycerin oils for dust abatement,” he said. “We have managed it fairly well. We have found interim solutions to deal with some of the complaints.”
The Town recently distributed notices about the construction to affected residents and posted information on its website earlier this summer. Williamson said he expects residents will be happy to finally see the road repaired.
“They’ve been complaining for some time now with all of the problems we’ve had,” he said. “It took us a few months to get the road built back up to allow access across the bridge. What really took long was building the berm and getting the wells configured. Then they had to deal with a road that was not in great shape.”
While the road is being repaired, a pathway running along it from Main Street to Imperial Drive will also be constructed. Williamson said pedestrians previously walked and cycled on the road.
“There is nowhere to walk other than on the road,” he said. “It’s not only a recreational element, it’s a safety element.”
