Latest news with #roadmaintenance
CBS News
6 hours ago
- Business
- CBS News
Northern Colorado county warns lack of road, bridge repair funding could cause budget to "go off a cliff in 2027"
Funding for maintenance of bridges and roads not keeping up with inflation in Larimer County Funding for maintenance of bridges and roads not keeping up with inflation in Larimer County Funding for maintenance of bridges and roads not keeping up with inflation in Larimer County One of the fastest-growing regions in Colorado is Northern Colorado, and Larimer County is the most populous of that part of the state. With so many people moving to the area and the continuous rise in inflation, officials with Larimer County are warning residents now that there is a pending shortfall when it comes to the county's budget for maintaining bridges and county roadways. A road in Larimer County. CBS Larimer County is larger in landmass than two states, and is home to more than 1,000 miles of county roads. That does not include roadways maintained by municipalities. The county is also responsible for maintaining 421 bridges, with more than 50 of them being deemed as needing repairs or replacement in the near future. However, the county's annual budget of $7 million for roadwork and bridge repair is expected to be far short of what they project they will need by 2027. "A lot of people work and recreate in different places (in the county). They go up to the foothills and back, and those are county roads," said Lesli Ellis, community planning infrastructure resources director for Larimer County. "We've had a lot of growth in the community. We have seen costs go up about 50% in the last five years for capital projects, infrastructure, and road projects." While the cost of maintaining roads and bridges has increased, the amount of money residents throughout Larimer County contribute to the transportation department has remained stagnant. According to Larimer County, residents who own a home valued at $600,000 only pay 75 cents per month toward road and bridge maintenance, an amount which the county officials say is not enough to continue upkeep of rural roads and bridges. Larimer County Road 5. CBS "So that is kind of a surprising thing to people. They pay a lot of property taxes on their house. It is kind of surprising that after it goes all the places it goes, there is not a lot of money going for road and bridge," Ellis said. "Without (additional) funding, we can fund about a quarter of the work we need to do in the community." County officials project that the annual budget needed for projects in the next three years will exceed $28 million. However, without voter approval for additional taxes or another outlet to gain more funding, Ellis said three-quarters of the necessary projects will be left unattended. "Without any increases and without any changes, we are starting to see (the transportation budget) diminish and go off a cliff in 2027," Ellis said. The county has been working for months now to not only explore options for correcting the trajectory but also to educate the public about the possibility of needing to increase taxes in order to address the projected shortfall. The county already has a list of more than 500 projects that need attention. A drone shot over Larimer County. CBS The county has created a website in which the details of the projected shortfall are further detailed, and proposed cuts are also highlighted. "(The current budget compared to the cost of maintenance) just doesn't match up. We have a widening gap," Ellis said.
RNZ News
14 hours ago
- Automotive
- RNZ News
New Zealand Transport Agency working on national plan to toll roads
Currently, three highways have tolls. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly Officials are working on a national plan for tolling roads but say it does not refer to levying motorists on existing roads. Government policy supports using tolls as an additional source of revenue to help build and maintain roads. The New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) has been working on a national tolling plan for several months. It had yet to present the plan to the NZTA board, and when it does it would contain recommendations that aligned with government expectations, the agency said. "There is no reference in the National Tolling Plan to the tolling of existing roads," it said. Currently, three highways have tolls, and other new highway projects such as Mill Road in Auckland, and Ōtaki to North of Levin are in line to get them. Previous policy was that any revenue raised by a toll had to be ringfenced to be spent on the road that was levied. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
CBC
3 days ago
- Climate
- CBC
Potholes are costing Canadians billions. But there are some solutions
Dylan Langille is very familiar with the swerves it takes to dodge the potholes of Halifax. "I could probably close my eyes on my commute back to my house, and I could avoid the pothole because they've been there for so long," Langille told the Cost of Living. "What are you supposed to do when there are potholes every 10 feet here." Langille, 30, is a radio announcer and content creator. He's milked the pothole hate on his TikTok account, including attempting to fish and golf using local potholes. "Just like putting on real green, I came up short," he said. Langille is one of many Canadian drivers who have to deal with potholes on a daily basis. It has municipalities spending millions on maintenance, and drivers making frequent trips to the mechanic. But there are some new solutions emerging to this old and growing problem — from using artificial intelligence to monitor for the holes, to changing the road surface itself. How the holes form The main culprit for all the potholes in Canada is all the freezing and thawing roads go through, says Nemy Banthia, a professor of civil engineering at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Moisture from rain and melting snow seeps under the road and freezes. That causes the ground to expand. When it gets warmer during the day, the ground shrinks back down, leaving a bulge in the road. Then, when people drive over it, it cracks. "As the wheels go over it, they will take some of this broken off material and a pothole is formed, right there and there," said Banthia. WATCH | What does the weather have to do with how bad potholes will be? What does the weather have to do with how bad potholes will be? 2 months ago Duration 1:46 If you need someone to blame for those pesky potholes that emerge in spring, look no farther than Mother Nature. The weather in Manitoba has a significant impact on how bad the roads will be when the temperature warms up. Watch CBC Manitoba weather specialist Riley Laychuk explain why. And it's getting worse, for a number of reasons. Banthia says that climate change has contributed to more of these rapid freeze and thaw cycles, and brought more intense rain. Plus, there are about a million more registered vehicles in Canada now than six years ago. "And we have not kept up on the innovation side to manage our pavements," said Banthia. What it costs The economic impact of potholes is being felt across the country. According to a 2021 study published by the Canadian Automobile Association, Canadian drivers incur extra costs of $126 annually per vehicle because of poor road quality, which totals to $3 billion for Canadian drivers every year. That includes vehicle repairs, higher maintenance, and other operating expenses, the study says. And municipalities are paying big bucks, too. In Edmonton, the city spent $5.9 million on pothole repair back in 2015. That budget is up to $11 million this year, which is the highest of any major city in Canada. In 2024, crews repaired a total of 537,305 potholes. They've fixed 91,020 so far this year. "I wouldn't say that Edmonton is the pothole capital of Canada, but I think we probably are the pothole filling capital of Canada," said city councillor Andrew Knack. In Saskatoon, city crews repaired over 50,000 potholes in 2024, according to the City of Saskatoon's Roadways Department. That's 52 per cent more than the previous year. But the increased cost isn't just because there are more potholes. Materials and labour also cost more. And Matthew Fair says it's something that needs to be dealt with, and not just because it can come with a big bill. He is the head of maintenance operations in Durham, Ont., which means it's his job to make sure the potholes get fixed. "If you hit a large enough pothole, it's public safety. Like you can lose control, it can cause an accident," said Fair. Can we fix it? People have tried all sorts of clever ways to draw attention to the plight caused by potholes. In New Brunswick, a concerned citizen filled in holes with soil and flowers, which were promptly run over. In the U.K., a British man built a pair of denim-clad wooden legs and erected them in the middle of a rain-filled hole. In Durham, they use AI software called CityRover. Installed on a smartphone and mounted on the window of their maintenance vehicle, it can detect and log potholes that need fixing. "If they are not detected and left too long, it can lead to larger, more expensive types of restorations to the roadway. So if we catch these potholes early, it saves us money in the long run," said Fair. But according to Banthia, there are long-term solutions too. "We need to start building roads with more innovation in them so that not only these things last longer, they also have lower carbon footprint," said Banthia. He says one of those solutions is to create roads that are crack-resistant. In Surrey, B.C., they tried a more flexible type of pavement that will potentially last much longer. Then there are what's known as "self-healing roads" — a technology that might sound like science fiction, but it's real, says Banthia. He's worked with Chawathil First Nation near Hope, B.C., and the village of Thondebhavi, in Karnataka, India, where they used a fibre-reinforced concrete that's designed to fill in the cracks as they form, creating a more long lasting road. The road in Thondebhavi was paved in 2015, and when Banthia went for a visit last year, he said the road was completely crack- and pothole-free. Banthia hopes more places in Canada will apply some of these innovations. He understands that the first-time costs for these are higher, but he says it could save money long term. "If we can actually do something so that we can not target just innovation but also make sure that our first-time costs are lower, I think that would actually make the technology far more attractive for the industry," said Banthia.
CTV News
5 days ago
- Automotive
- CTV News
Banwell Road listed as worst road in the southwestern region: CAA
The intersection of Banwell Road and Mulberry Drive in Windsor, Ont. is seen on August 8, 2022. (Bob Bellacicco/CTV News Windsor) The 2025 CAA Worst Roads Campaign has revealed Ontario's worst roads, with Banwell Road in Windsor taking the top spot in the southwest region. The Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario (RCCAO) supported the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) as a technical partner for the campaign. South West: Top 5 Includes Windsor, Chatham-Kent Municipality, Essex County and Lambton County. Banwell Road, Windsor Blackwell Sideroad, Sarnia Michigan Avenue, Sarnia Riverside Drive, Windsor Vidal Street South, Sarnia None of the region's roads made the Top 10 list in the province. Top 10 List Ontario Aberdeen Avenue, Hamilton Barton Street East, Hamilton County Road 49, Prince Edward County Eglinton Avenue West, Toronto Hurontario Street, Mississauga Leveque Road, South Frontenac Highway 50, Caledon (Bolton) Sider Road, Fort Erie Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, Toronto Sheppard Avenue West, Toronto 'Drivers across Ontario are all too aware of poor road upkeep and the negative impact it has on everyone's ability to get around their community,' said Nadia Todorova, executive director of RCCAO. In addition to raising awareness of roads most needing maintenance work, CAA public opinion research conducted online in January 2025, also revealed that 85 per cent of Ontarians agreed that short-term inconvenience due to road maintenance work is worth it to realize the long-term improvements needed. The complete results of this year's CAA Worst Roads Campaign can be viewed at
CTV News
5 days ago
- Automotive
- CTV News
Two Hamilton streets top list of worst Ontario roads: CAA
Aberdeen Avenue in Hamilton is seen in the above photo. Potholes and poor road maintenance has once again pushed Aberdeen Avenue in Hamilton to the top spot of the CAA's list of worst roads in Ontario. This year, Toronto roads did not break the top three for worst roads in the province, according to the annual rankings. Barton Street East in Hamilton took the number two spot and County Road 49 in Prince Edward County came in third. 'Both roads are expected to receive significant upgrades and are in the planning stages,' a news release issued by CAA read. While many of same streets round out the top 10 year after year, new to the worst roads rankings in 2025 is Toronto's Gardiner Expressway. The major highway is currently undergoing a major rehabilitation project that has resulted in lane closures and longer travel times for commuters. Here are the roads that made the top 10 list in Ontario this year: 1.) Aberdeen Avenue, Hamilton 2.) Barton Street East, Hamilton 3.) County Road 49, Prince Edward County 4.) Eglinton Avenue West, Toronto 5.) Hurontario Street, Mississauga 6.) Leveque Road, South Frontenac 7.) Highway 50, Caledon 8.) Sider Road, Fort Erie 9.) Gardiner Expressway, Toronto 10.) Sheppard Avenue West, Toronto Participants in the survey this year nominated more than 2,400 different roads from 208 municipalities, a 20 per cent increase in the number of roads nominated the previous year, according to CAA. 'Timely repairs, better communication, quick fixes, pothole funds, and using recycled aggregates are just some solutions to fix unsafe roads,' Teresa Di Felice, assistant vice president of government and community relations, CAA South Central Ontario, said in a news release. 'CAA continues to urge all levels of government to prioritize road safety with stable funding to do so.'
