Kimberley City Council is, as promised to residents of the St. Mary Lake Road area last year, dealing with ongoing issues of road conditions.
The road, responsibility for which was passed to the City by the province over ten years ago, has been an ongoing issue.
Of particular concern is one-1.5 kilometre stretch which is not paved and residents say is deteriorating rapidly. Adding to the problem is logging truck traffic coming out the valley.
Council has decided to deal with the problem by putting load restrictions on year round. St. Mary residents had told Council last year that they felt load restrictions were a possible solution. The signs will go up in the near future.
This will force heavy logging trucks to use the road on the other side of the river.
Coun. Albert Hoglund said that the load restrictions don’t affect sand trucks and graders.
“In the spring there are 70 per cent load restrictions anyway. We felt we can maintain the road better with year round load restrictions.”
He said that the RCMP commercial vehicle inspection team would be responsible for enforcing the rule.
“I drove the road myself and that’s the only section that’s a mess,” said Coun. Darrly Oakley. “But there already is heavy damage on the road from trucks. It sure would be nice to have some sort of partnership to help resolve this.”
Mayor Ron McRae said that there would likely be some upset logging company folks, but that some sort of solution had to be found.
The City is also costing out converting that section of the road to a true gravel road.