St. John's roads headed to rehab, work on hold during rush hour

Road repair season is about to start in St. John's, and this yearcrews will be asked not to work during peak commuting hours.

"We've had complaints about work being done in the peak hours: 7-9 [a.m.], 4-6 in the evening," Coun.Danny Breen told CBC's Here and Now.

"So we're building into the specifications not to have crews working at those hours. That will be a challenge in some cases because the crews may be part way through a project or it may be an emergency work that needs to be done," said Breen.

"But we're going to try our best to keep the work out of the peak hours on certain specified arterials and major roads in the city."

Breen said he expects workto start in a few weeks.

"The asphalt plants, we understand, open around May 24, so once they're open then we can begin to work."

Who makes the cut?

"During the year, our staff complete an analysis and rate the streets in the city,"said Breen.

"That could be based on complaints, calls to 311 and their own assessment in doing inspections. And then they come up with a list, priorize the list of the streets to be done, they bring them to council, [and] council will approve that list. Webase our decisions solely on the recommendations brought by staff."

Among the streets making this year's list are Monkstown Road, O'Regan Road and East White Hills Road (the entrance to the city landfill up to Sugar Loaf Road).

The streets are rated on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the worst.

Breen said O'Regan Road is a nine because, although the street has been patched over the years, it is basically the same road and pavement from about 50 years ago.

Because O'Regan Road has some grass and trees between the sidewalk and the street, the city arborist will have to be involved with repairs, Breen said.

Despite the obvious disruption that comes with repairs, Breen said residents are very accommodating.

"Residents generally understand that this is important work," he said.

"We need to upgrade our infrastructure and they're pleased to see it. When you run into problems, that'swhen you get some complaints because the projects tend to drag on a little bit. But generally people [are] very, very understanding of what we're doing."