Iqaluit's roads need work, says city official

Iqaluit's director of Public Works told a committee meeting Tuesday the city's roads are bad and he knows it.

Keith Couture told the engineering and public works committee the city needs to embark on a major road reconstruction project.

"To use the excuse that you're in the North and can't have good roads is a cop out," he said.

"We can have good roads but we have to plan them properly."

He said good roads are built from the bottom up.

"Our roads are lacking something," he said. "We don't have ditching to draw the water off them, we don't have the proper base and we're low so that when we get any runoff because of no ditches, where does it go? It goes on the surface of the road."

Couture said the quick fix though is to put a gravel and sand mixture in the worst areas. Grading is already being done in some places but he said the temperatures have to be right and the roads can't be too slushy.

Couture said he's going to work on a set of standards for road maintenance and reconstruction.

Councillor Romeyn Stevenson applauded the move.

"I think that the roads are frustrating for most of the citizens of Iqaluit that drive and also those who walk because theyre impacted by the crazy nature of the lanes as they weave in and out," he said. "It becomes quite dangerous."

For now, Couture and council members are asking drivers to be patient as city crews try to fix problems in the short term.