Work on a deteriorating section of Genoa Bay Road, near Maple Bay, will soon begin, but the budget for the project has doubled from $1.5 million to $3 million.
North Cowichan council unanimously voted for the project to proceed, and to increase its budget, at its meeting on June 19.
A 110-metre section of pavement in the northbound lane of Genoa Bay Road near Genoa Bay Village has been settling, and the pavement has been cracking for many years.
Genoa Bay Road was constructed along the side of a mountain and is the only means in and out for about 20 homes at the end of the road.
A staff report by John Dehoop, the municipality’s manager of infrastructure, said engineering staff in North Cowichan have been monitoring the settlement rate for more than eight years, but during the major rain and flood event that struck the region in November, 2021, cracks in the asphalt appeared to be more significant than usual.
“Out of concerns for public safety, the northbound lane was closed and remains closed to this day,” Dehoop said.
“Engineering staff immediately commissioned Ryzuk Geotechnical to undertake a geotechnical assessment of the roadbed and slope. The assessment confirmed that the lane closure was warranted.”
Dehoop said staff also temporarily relocated a water main serving Genoa Bay Village residents due to concerns that should the water main leak, the water could increase the chance of, or cause, a slope failure, resulting in a loss of both the road and the water service to Genoa Bay Village.
He said the engineering firm WSP also undertook a further geotechnical investigation, which revealed that an adjacent section of the road also needed to be remediated, increasing the area of concern by about 50 per cent.
“The engineering department has been working with these consultants to achieve two key goals: to try to preserve two lanes for normal traffic flow; and to keep the costs as low as possible,” Dehoop said.
“The current budget of $1.5 million set out in early 2022 was based on limited information at the time. Further, it was based on approximately 65 metres of the road needing repair. Still, based on additional geotechnical investigations, WSP recommends an extra 45 metres of the road be repaired and the associated slope stabilized. This will necessitate an increase of $1.5 million to bring the total budget to $3 million.”
Coun Tek Manhas said looking after roads and the safety of the people in North Cowichan is a core responsibility of the municipality, and he’s in full support of the project.
“We do a lot of stuff outside of our lane, but this is in our lane,” he said.