The City of Sault Ste. Marie has selected five streets to get new top layers of asphalt this year.
Resurfacing is a simple road maintenance method that places a new layer of material over an existing surface.
Doing this when damage starts to appear instead of replacing the full road, extends its usable life and maintains it in as safe a condition as possible.
Here's the 2025 resurfacing plan, as approved by city council this week:
Class A: asphalt road with curbs and storm sewers
- Lyons Avenue – Korah Road to Carmen’s Way
- McNabb Street – Black Road to Trunk Road
Class B: asphalt road with roadside ditches
- Second Line West – Civic 756 to 875
Class C: surface-treated roads
- Moss Road – Third Line to Fourth Line
- Vera Street – Riverin Avenue to Adeline Avenue
Miscellaneous Construction:
- right turn lane – Second Line West at Goulais Avenue
- pedestrian crossover – Queen Street East at Church Street
- temporary flexible traffic calming bollards at various locations
In presenting the 2025 program to city council this week, Carl Rumiel, the city's director of engineering, also included a blunt warning, similar to cautions expressed annually by his department.
"Over the years the need to resurface roads has continued to grow and the rising cost of construction has diminished the effectiveness of the resurfacing program," Rumiel said.
"Many areas of the city have fallen behind in upgrading asphalt surfaces. Pavement Condition Index (PCI) is a score assigned to every road segment in the city. The PCI score (0 – worst to 100 – best) is used as an indicator for the pavement’s condition.
"In the city’s asset management plan for roads and bridges, detailed reinvestment needs for preventative maintenance, resurfacing, and reconstruction of road surfaces have been calculated to be approximately $12.5 million annually over the next 10 years.
"With this annual reinvestment, the average PCI in the city will increase from a score of 53 to 55 over 10 years. Scores in the 50s are in the 'fair' category; however, 22 per cent of the road segments in the city are in the 'poor' to 'very poor' category.
"During budget deliberations over the past few years, the engineering division has requested an increase of $0.5 million to the resurfacing program without success. Staff will continue to make annual requests in an attempt to bring the resurfacing program up to an effective level in order to prevent further deterioration of the roads and extend the asset-life.
"These road sections have been prioritized based on public works maintenance needs, volume of traffic, and pavement condition scores from the city’s asset management plan. The program may be further adjusted depending on pricing received during tendering.
"There is a combined allocation from the 2025 capital transportation plan and unspent amounts from previous years of $4,511,715 for resurfacing in 2025. It is estimated that this amount will be sufficient for the 2025 road resurfacing program," Rumiel added.
Councillors also approved the following resolution:
Capital Road Maintenance
Mover: Coun. S. Hollingsworth
Seconder: Coun. M. Bruni
Whereas investments in our roads are critical because they are our lifeline; and
Whereas good roads are crucial for economic development, social access, and safety; and
Whereas municipal roads facilitate the movement of goods and people, connecting neighbourhoods and enabling access to essential services like healthcare, education, and employment; and
Whereas well-maintained roads contribute to safer driving conditions, reduce vehicle maintenance costs, and enhance overall quality of life; and
Whereas the increasing costs to maintain capital assets like roads can't be addressed through property tax alone and it is recognized that city staff continuously seek grants to cover the cost of repairing roads; and
Whereas it is important that the City of Sault Ste. Marie continue to carry out its responsibility to invest in core infrastructure such as roads,
Now therefore be it resolved that staff be requested to report back at the Aug. 11, 2025 council meeting regarding the following;
- summarizing how much funding council has allocated to the capital transportation budget for the last five years broken down between grants and non-grant funds
- specifying grants with amounts the city has received over the last years
- stating the percentage of roads considered to be high, medium and low risk of needing repair;
- capacity of contractors for construction;
- approximating how much of a dollar increase that would be per kilometre; and
- outlining the best financial practices council could consider at budget time to finance the goal of fixing a high portion of roads by a set year (i.e. issuing municipal bonds, incurring debt, etc.)