Contractors who build roads below standards are not being made to fix them, according to a copy of the city streets audit obtained by CBC News.
The city auditor looked at three of eight major road reconstruction projects from between 2009 and 2013. In all three cases, the sites failed to meet city standards and contractors were not required to replace the inferior work.
Coun. Mike Nickel suspects potholes like this one could be the result of substandard road work that’s not fixed during construction. (CBC)
“I think that’s very alarming,” said Coun. Mike Nickel.
“What’s worse is the inspection and the follow-ups and who is keeping the contractor accountable — there’s no record. If there are, they’re poor at best.”
The report notes the project manager may have made judgment calls about the quality of the project based on the site conditions or pressures to open the road, but those decisions were not documented.
“Each time there’s a deficiency it is noted, and I think what the auditor was asking is that we just make sure the documentation process around deficiencies is a little bit more stringent,” said Gord Cebryk, branch manager for transportation operations.
Sometimes repairs are done later, or they find reconstruction does more harm than good, he said.
The project manager must ask, “Does the repair constitute more of a hazard or detriment to the city, as opposed to just allowing the deficiency, with appropriate compensation back to the city?” Cebryk said.
The report does not mention contractors paying damages to the city for substandard work, only that the city spent $156.7 million on road rehab and reconstruction in 2013.
Nickel suspects some common problems with Edmonton roads such as cracks and potholes may be the result of poor workmanship that is not being corrected. He also worries the city pays more to compensate.
“When the product is not up to spec, that means the life cycle is shorter, which means that we have to replace it sooner. So we’re paying double,” he said.
“The scope and scale of that deficiency, we don’t know. So what’s the real state of our inventory that we’ve poured money into?”
Nickel said the report calls into question the quality of all road work done in Edmonton. He plans to ask for more information about the scope of the problem when the report goes before the audit committee on Tuesday.
Source:: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-roads-built-below-standards-1.2841411?cmp=rss
