A Lloydminster roadway upgraded about two years ago will be torn up again after underground failures forced council to approve an additional $600,000 for repairs.
Council approved the additional funding during its March 23 meeting as part of the 2026 Water and Sewer Replacement Program.
The project will take place along 50 Avenue between 55 Street and 57 Street, where crews will replace aging underground water and sewer infrastructure.
Administration said the work comes shortly after surface upgrades were completed on the same stretch as part of a previous street improvement program.
“As part of a previous street improvement program, this section of roadway was repaired. We repaired the asphalt, as well as the sidewalks and the trails that are along the side of the road,” administration said.
At the time, the underground infrastructure was not identified as being at immediate risk.
“At that time, it was unbeknownst to us that the sanitary and water infrastructure within that segment was at critical end of life,” administration said.
Over the past year, that changed.
“We had three or four water main breaks, as well as sanitary sewer collapses, effectively shutting off service for a large number of neighbourhoods within the area,” administration said.
What’s being done now
The newly approved project will involve removing sections of the recently upgraded roadway to access and replace the underground infrastructure.
Crews will be working with multiple water and sewer lines located at significant depths beneath the road.
“We are dealing with two water mains and two sanitary sewers on both sides of the road, at depths ranging from five to seven metres deep,” administration said.
Because of those conditions, the project is more complex and costly than originally planned.
Council approved both the $3.31 million construction contract and an additional $600,000 from the city’s water and wastewater reserve to complete the work.
Questions around planning
The situation prompted questions from council about whether more can be done to prevent similar situations in the future.
“Was it roughly a year ago or two years ago that we had some sidewalk repair and road repair on this stretch?” asked Coun. Justin Vance.
Administration confirmed the timeline, noting they previously upgraded the section roughly two years ago.
“Is there a way that we can evaluate what we got down there before we pay to get the road done?” Vance asked.
Administration said inspections such as camera work and reviewing break history are used to assess infrastructure, but acknowledged there are limits.
“We can inspect them, we can look at the water main break history, it can tell us a great story,” administration said.
“And then all of a sudden, it flips and it’s not great anymore.”
City says work unavoidable
City officials said while tearing up a recently upgraded roadway is frustrating, the failures made the repairs necessary.
“Unfortunately, we are going to impact what we had completed as part of a previous street improvement program, but we need to restore that service,” administration said.
Mayor Gerald Aalbers said aging infrastructure continues to present challenges.
“We don’t know what’s underground until we get there,” Aalbers said.
He added that some of the infrastructure dates back decades, making failures difficult to predict.
“We’ll get it done right, and it will be good for a long time.”
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That is such bullshit. That area has had problems for years. We asked when the street was done why they didnt do the underground issues. No answer. Just lloydminster wasting more money and time. The area over there is one of the oldest parts of the city. And has had sewer backups for years.
The main road (50ave) will be closed for 6 months this is going to put pressure on 49th ave with parked cars on both sides leading to a four way stop could be interesting at rush hour toss in the train crossing for more delays. The basic street system in Lloyd hasn’t changed in 120 years just bandaid fix after bandaid fix.
Is there no insurance or recourse that whoever the city hires to do a job of this magnitude, that the contractors who did this work a year or two ago would have to cover the cost? So this bill to redo a job done once, needs to be paid yet again by tax payers? Am I understanding this correctly?
Why would they? The road work is fine.