Drivers in Saint John may soon see roads resurfaced much quicker once milling operations are completed.
Council has directed city staff to draft contract language requiring contractors to meet “strict timelines” for paving.
Coun. Gerry Lowe, who introduced the motion, said the milling process leaves roads in an unfinished state, often causing uneven surfaces and hazardous conditions.
“A street gets milled, and sometimes they don’t come and pave it for long periods of time,” Lowe said during a recent council meeting.
“I feel that the public should be able to get an answer from somebody, whether it be an engineer or somebody, as to when that street will be paved.”
Lowe said individual contracts currently have no clearly defined timelines, except for when a project must be substantially completed.
Brent McGovern, the city’s chief administrative officer, said the approach historically has come down to prioritizing the lowest cost and flexibility.
“When you provide that flexibility to the contractor, they can take on lots of other work and slot it in as best it suits them, which has been the historic practices,” said McGovern.
“I understand where the motion is coming from because once you have some experiences that we’ve had recently in terms of long delays for resurfacing where a contractor leaves the community and doesn’t come back for many weeks or months, it causes problems.”
Deputy Mayor John MacKenzie said he was glad that Lowe brought forward the issue and that city staff are taking action.
“I talked about this last summer. I think we had two or three streets, maybe half a dozen, that were not done for months,” he said.
No timeline was given for when city staff will come back to council with the draft contract language.
