The town of Pictou is facing a perfect storm of crumbling streets and rising costs to fix them.
At a Committee of Council meeting on Monday, Public Works Superintendent Iain MacIssac laid out the results of a Pavement Condition report for the town’s street network. While nearly 39 percent of the network was rated very good or good, 22.7 percent was rated poor – requiring resurfacing at minimum in the short term – and 24.2 percent was rated failed, requiring rebuilding.
In the report, it was noted that some street work done in past decades was found not to be to minimum standards, and so has deteriorated faster than projected. MacIssac told council that these needs, combined with high rates of inflation costs for paving materials, means that council needs to put more money into its capital plan, or else streets will fall even further into disrepair.
Council accepted the report as presented, and noted that it will play a big role in planning their next budget.
