By Taylor Chartrand

Structural road failure leading into Saamis Heights

Apr 4, 2019 | 4:50 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – If you plan on using the main road into the Saamis Heights area, you may experience some rough roads and delays in traffic.

A portion of Sierra Boulevard SW, between Southridge Drive SE and Sunrise Gate SW, has experienced structural failure due to spring thawing.

Operations Engineer with the City of Medicine Hat, Craig Maunder, says because the damage is so bad, they’ve had to lay down rig mats to accommodate traffic.

“With that temporary driving surface, it’s not as nice as a normal road and can’t handle traffic at the same speeds as a normal road,” explained Maunder. “So, we have reduced it down to a single lane, as well as twenty kilometers an hour to provide that safe driving surface.”

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Maunder says the asphalt plants are currently closed, which is preventing the road from being fixed immediately.

“My understanding is the asphalt plants are going to be opening towards the end of April, beginning of May. So, that kind of gives us a time-frame of what we’re looking at. We’ll definitely make people aware when we’re able to make that permanent fix there. We’re going to get it repaired as soon as we can.”

For this time of year, Maunder says these types of scenarios are fairly common.

“One of the contributing factors is the spring frost coming out of the ground. There’s other contributors such as the age of the road, the structure itself and the pavement structure. It’s definitely common to see these types of failures.”

Maunder says the cost of the repairs to Sierra Boulevard SW is currently unknown. He says they will make sure the fix is both cost effective and the best value for the taxpayers.

Maunder says the City is also looking into additional areas facing structural road failures as well.