Quote:
Originally Posted by Winnipegger
Elected officials giving directives to departments to complete as much "road renewal as possible" with shoe-string budgets. You can spend $120 million/year doing a re-doing a few lane kms well, or spend the same amount re-doing many lane kms terribly. The latter option probably plays better in an election year since more people will feel like they are benefiting from road renewal even though it will cost more in the long run.
Ah the joys of municipal democracy in a city of cheap voters.
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You would think the asphalt vs concrete road decision was based significantly on cost savings/more lane km's constructed. Would you guys believe that the cost to build asphalt streets the way Wall and Erin were designed does not actually save the City almost any money up front because of the ridiculous new design requirements that the City's own public works department is providing to consultants?
The new regime in charge of updating the City's design standards are single handedly blowing through millions and millions of dollars annually and the worst part is that there is nobody holding them to account demanding real cost/benefit analysis for the changes they are making to the specs.
But I digress, back to the original point, although the asphalt pavement itself is cheaper vs concrete pavement, there are other costs on the road that level the prices somewhat such as additional subbase/base materials under asphalt, curb and gutter/killstrip instead of plain barrier curb, concrete transitions at some intersections. When all those things are considered, the upfront cost for a road with concrete pavement is approx 5-10% higher than asphalt. There is nobody that can convince me that there isn't more than 5-10% higher long term maintenance costs on an industrial traffic asphalt road vs concrete.
Most people in these departments are more than smart enough to know the logical choice is concrete roads especially in industrial settings, but the problem is that there are some people who have the ears of decision makers who are simply not logical. If I'm constructing or reconstructing a major street in Winnipeg and it's a choice between $15 million for asphalt vs $16 million for concrete to me it's a no brainer and there is no elected official or bean counter that is going to convince me that it is a better decision for the City.
There is a time and a place for asphalt - cheap overlays, residential streets, parking lots, but its all about doing a proper analysis and making the best decision, not the cheapest. The bang for buck argument in election years/making the most people feel good is absolutely valid when it comes to rehabbing a street or doing a TBO, that's where you go for the "many lane kilometres terribly". But the decision for new construction on Bishop Grandin or Erin or Wall has to have different parameters, and some people in Public Works are actively ignoring them.
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The Simpsons, of course!
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