Like most municipalities, St. Albert has an infrastructure deficit, but its assets are generally in good condition and the engineering department has made “significant headway” in addressing the gap.
That was the message contained in a draft report to city council’s standing committee on finance Monday.
“I think we’re in good shape. There’s a lot of municipalities that are worse off than we are,” said director of engineering Todd Wyman.
The city began to take a more proactive approach to infrastructure in 2003, completing the first phase of a review that defined the condition of its physical assets, their replacement cost and maintenance needs.
In 2005 the city completed a lifecycle study to aid in prioritization and the assessment of the risk associated with infrastructure deterioration.
Both studies showed that the city wasn’t putting enough money into preventative maintenance but that the city’s overall infrastructure is in good condition, Wyman said.
The 2005 study recommended the city spend between $20 million and $25 million a year to maintain the current state of its infrastructure. The city currently spends about $15 million annually, Wyman said.
Despite the gap, the city has made progress in several of the high risk areas by using information provided in the two studies to prioritize its assets and form a plan to bring the infrastructure to functional and reliable levels, he said.
“We’re getting to that point where we’re addressing the highest areas and the shortest lifecycle areas,” Wyman said.
The city now inspects a third of its roadways every year. It’s inspected 51 per cent of the wastewater collection system and 22 per cent of the stormwater collection system. The city is now doing a structural assessment of its bridges every three years, Wyman said.
Coun. Len Bracko said the city’s infrastructure is in much better shape than it was in 2001.
“What I would like to see though is a state of the infrastructure report every few years or every term so we can point people to it,” he said.
Mayor Nolan Crouse said he’s noticed an improvement in the level of planning that’s in place when the engineering department comes to council with budget requests.
“What I felt five years ago was, ‘$500,000 for sidewalks, we’ll figure out next year what we’ll spend it on,’” Crouse said.
“I think you’ve come to the point where there’s some specificity. It looks like you’ve gained six months in the process.”
