Wetter conditions mean the Hay River’s public works department has had to delay treatment to some roads.
The town is preparing to treat the roads with calcium this week. Calcium when wet helps bind gravel roads together.
Deputy Mayor Robert Bouchard said the delays were creating areas of concern along industrial roads where dust is accumulating on the roads.
“It’s like, is it even worth laying down calcium at this point? We already have dust control issues. I don’t know why come the end of April, we’ve got the snow off the ground and I’m not sure why it’s so late to lay down that stuff,” he said during a council meeting on Tuesday.
Bouchard had flagged concerns about dust on the roads in the town’s previous meeting.
Wetter conditions coming earlier in the year made it difficult to get calcium on the roads around town, Senior Administrative Officer for Hay River Glenn Smith said.
“It’s certainly something that we’ll be looking at. We have a bit of a balance in that early spring where we are getting some moisture and precipitation but you want to be ahead of what has been this year a hot hot summer, dry summer,” he said. “So we have increased some of our truck water, dust controls because of that.”
Smith added the town would be talking to suppliers to see if they can have deliveries made earlier in the year, so in the future roads can get treated sooner.
