Report suggests $40-million annual investment isn't enough to keep up with Calgary road deterioration

Spending more money now on road quality will save funds in the long run, suggests a new report from the City of Calgary.

Presented to the city's Infrastructure Planning Committee during its Wednesday meeting, the Pavement Quality Level of Service report found that the current condition of Calgary's road network — which spans about 17,000 kilometres — is rated at 38 per cent good, 36 per cent fair and 26 per cent poor. 

According to the report, at the current annual investment of $40 million, the road deterioration rate would be 3.2 per cent.

"This means good condition roads will drop to 26 per cent and poor conditions roads will increase to 52 per cent by 2034," it reads.

Data from other municipalities indicates that the Canadian national average is 61 per cent of roads in good condition, according to the city's website. 

Meanwhile, the city's infrastructure report also suggests that at least 60 per cent of major roads should be in good condition, and that funding should be set at a level to maintain that standard.

In order to head off major repairs in the future, city administration is recommending that paving investment needs to be $116 million annually over the next ten years.

By using the funding boost to prioritize urgent repairs, "the city would avoid an estimated $600 million in future costs," according to the city's manager of construction and materials Charmaine Buhler.

Buhler added that this investment would mean arterial, collector and local roads could be maintained at 60 per cent, 54 per cent and 42 per cent good condition respectively by 2034. 

Coun. Sonya Sharp for Ward 1 says infrastructure spending has been top of mind for Calgarians.

"We probably haven't been diligent enough to spend enough money on infrastructure over the years. Clearly we've seen it through our infrastructure through water, and now we're seeing it through roads," Sharp told reporters earlier Wednesday.

"Prioritizing what Calgarians want us to prioritize is really, really important."

Since 2011, Calgary's road network has increased by over 2,100 lane kilometres, or 13 per cent. Every day, Calgarians are making over 1 million trips on roadways in poor conditions, according to the city's report.

"Every year, Calgary adds an average of 170 lane kilometres of road to our network, which is roughly the distance between Calgary and Lake Louise," Buhler told the city's Infrastructure Planning Committee.