Five-year Plan

You probably remember, back in January, when the new municipal council adopted its first budget, which included prioritizing transparency and efficiency. It also included changes to road infrastructure investment conditions. Road work is now planned at the municipal level rather than at the electoral district level, which is why a single amount is earmarked for the whole municipality instead of equal amounts for each of the seven neighbourhoods. This allows for better prioritization and ensures electoral districts are treated more equitably, since they don’t all have the same municipal road lengths and some have much longer distances to cover than others. In short, the goal of this change was to better allocate investments based on all the work to be done at the level of the municipality as a whole and then setting priorities, to foster sound and efficient management of human and material resources.

The Public Works Department is responsible for maintaining all municipality infrastructures (buildings, roads, sewer systems, etc.). The municipality’s road network receives most of the its budget. Our roads are a fundamental feature of our community. We must take the expanse of our municipality’s land into account: It spreads over 616 km2, with over 275 km of municipal roads - more than the distance between La Pêche and Montréal (about 247 km). Imagine the cost of maintaining such a vast network, when it costs nearly $220,000 just to repave one kilometre of road (resurfacing and shoulders included).

Since road quality is crucial to our community’s development and residents’ quality of life, the Municipality is currently working on its first five-year plan for municipal road network upgrades and maintenance. The purpose of this management tool is to help prioritize and plan major road work (such as repairs, improvements, and new construction) for the next five years. Minor work (sweeping, line marking, grading, potholes, resurfacing, snow removal, use of dust suppressant) is still planned and executed annually. The five-year plan will be developed considering the following:

• Road classification
• Inventory of roads requiring major work
• Prioritization of work depending on road condition and classification
• Municipal revenues, and methods of funding and work execution

The five-year plan will allow the municipality to improve its road infrastructure management and inform residents of upcoming work. A win-win situation!

Also see:

• Functional classification of municipal roads
• Inventory and assessment of the state of our roads