New County program to see double the grading frequency on a handful of roads, increasing service levels

A pilot program in Woodlands County aims to increase the service level on specific segments of
six different county roads that currently see a grader once every two weeks. The program would
see the roads receive treatment once a week instead, increasing the level of service for road
users. Jeff Zhang, Director of Infrastructure Services, brought the program forward during the
June 5 Woodlands County Council meeting.
Roads recommended for the program include Thompson Road (from the Township Rd 590
intersection to 583), Mountain View Road (from the Township Rd 590 intersection to 583), Tower
Road (from Township Rd 591A to 592B), and Horne Road (from Township Rd 594 to northerly
end). Four stretches off Range Road 121 (Township Roads 585B, 590, 114A and 114B) to the
ends of the roads in Estates of East Mountain would also increase to once-a-week grading, as
would Township Road 590 from Highway 32 to the westerly end.
The sections on Thompson Road and Mountain View Road are each five kilometres, the largest
of the group. The Estates of East Mountain grouping totals 1.6 kilometres, the smallest
segment. The other three, Tower Road, Township Road 590, and Horne Road, are roughly two
and a half kilometres each. The total for the pilot program would be just shy of nineteen
kilometres. The roads selected by the administration were chosen based on road usage and the
service requests received from residents.
“This pilot program is intended to run for a duration of between one and four months. Based on
the current resourcing level, it is best if a contract grader and operator be hired for this
undertaking,” explained Zhang. “It is estimated that the monthly grading hours, including
transportation, will be less than 80 hours, which translates to approximately sixteen thousand
dollars a month.” Zhang added that the work could start immediately if approved. Zhang
explained that the money for the program would come from his department’s operating budget.
“We will monitor the budget closely. My staff will be evaluating the efficacy of this proposed pilot
program to monitor the increasing level of service and road surface condition,” he said.
Councillor Bruce Prestidge asked about the Old Blue Ridge Highway past the Whitecourt
Transfer Station. “When we did a traffic survey years ago, it was the second highest road usage
in the county, and it is usually in terrible condition. Why couldn’t that be included in this
program?” Zhang responded that there wasn’t special funding for the program. “I know the Old
Blue Ridge Highway is a well-traveled road. We also get service requests on a regular basis, as
well. However, there’s only so large of a pie. The more roads we add in, the more roads we will
have to take out. We are trying to find the balance between how many roads we want to run in a
pilot program versus how much money we have.”
Reeve Dave Kusch said the highest focus was on residential impact. “What we were looking at
was based on a service call area, road conditions, and the volume of houses and people,” he
said. Though the Old Blue Ridge Highway has some of the highest traffic levels, the program
aimed to impact as many residents as possible.
Paul Benedetto, Interim Chief Administrative Officer, explained that adding more roads to the
program would alter the frequency of grading but still result in an increased service level for the

selected roads. Adding more stretches of road to the program would mean that instead of
doubling the grading from every fourteen days to every seven, roads would see grading every
eight or nine days, which would still be a noticeable improvement.
He said that though the program was made flexible, they can’t increase the monthly budget as it
currently stands, coming from the infrastructure budget line. To grow the program further,
without stretching grading beyond every seven days, Council would need to allot funding
towards it. “We’re hoping to achieve a marked improvement to the service level and the
condition of the roads that a lot of our public are travelling on,” said Benedetto.
Councillor Peter Kuelken said the pilot program was an excellent idea. He credited the Service
Tracker, which gives residents the freedom to report issues and compiles data to show areas
needing attention, as a help before and during the program. “If we start getting less requests on
the service tracker for these areas, I’m pretty sure that that would be an indicator of whether that
program is working or not.”
Councillor Jeremy Wilhelm felt that sticking with the current list of roads and evaluating results
in six weeks before changing things up and adding more was a good option. “The point of a pilot
project is to try something new, right? We’re not set in stone on specific roads. We’re just
starting with specific roads now and can shift as we need to in the future.” Councillor Devin
Williams agreed. “We’re not lowering service anywhere else. We’re just doing a pilot project to
see if this is better. I wouldn’t commit to four or five months and specific roads, but I like the idea
of up to six weeks because it gives us a full month of the service tracker.”
Councillor John Burrows, who zoomed in for the meeting, said they were heading in the right
direction. “We’ve had to go through a period of time where we were looking at service levels and
pulling back, and now we’re looking at adding it again a bit. So, we have to do it in a careful and
methodical manner, and I think this is the best way to do it. I’m sure we’ll pick up some roads
along the way.” Zhang said that idea would work. “It’s perfectly valid to collect data, reevaluate,
and see where we go.” Councillor Wilhelm motioned to approve the pilot program, adding that a
review be done in August. The motion passed unanimously.