Eight roads in Greater Sudbury have made list of the top 20 worst roads in northern and eastern Ontario, according to preliminary information released this week by CAA.**
CAA’s Worst Roads survey has wrapped up, with very few surprises, said a news release. CAA said it surpassed last year’s vote count and there are a few new roads named to the list.
Ottawa’s Carling Avenue, Bronson Avenue and Hunt Club Road are the worst roads in Ontario, but the North is “highly represented” and includes new locations, CAA said in a news release.
Lansing Avenue in Greater Sudbury is ranked No. 5, Paris Street is ranked No. 7, Fielding Road is ranked No. 8, Bancroft Drive is ranked No. 12, Barrydowne Road is ranked No. 14, and Panache Lake Road, Vermillion Lake Road and Regent Street are ranked No. 16, 17 and 18 respectively.
CAA said it is important to identify poor infrastructure because it costs Canadians $3 billion a year in extra vehicle costs. Some of the things that add up are wear and tear, tire replacement, rim replacement and repair, insurance claims, extra fuel because of rough roads and additional body work.
Last year, CAA released the Cost of Poor Roads Study, which found that governments spending one dollar on pavement preservation today eliminates or delays spending $6-$10 on costly rehabilitation or reconstruction in the future.
What could municipal and provincial governments do to mitigate the risks to road users?
“The key to road maintenance is early intervention, which is why the Worst Roads campaign is so important, to highlight to provincial and municipal governments where people see the problems,” said CAA.
There are 156,000 km of poor and very poor roads in Canada, which has more than 1 million kilometres of roads.
In Ontario, there are 1,068 km of poor and very poor highways and 31,366 km in non-highways. “That’s a grand total of 32,434 km of roads in pretty bad condition,” said CAA in the news release, adding close to half (43 per cent) of Canadian roads are rated below average.
**After issuing the release, CAA clarified and said the data released Monday was preliminary information particular to northern and eastern Ontario and may change once the completed report is made public.
