Moose Jaw “Canada’s Most Notorious City!” Yes, they got that right...Moose Jaw has notoriously bad roads and a bad cleanup plan for snow removal and road repairs.
First of all, I live on the 1200 Block of Duffield St West and the cross avenue is 13th. To start the winter season, on Oct 23rd and 24th we had heavy snow. Since that time, we have had light snow, heavy snow, heavy snow and high winds, freezing rain.
The following is a list of snow removal we have had in my area.
- Feb 3rd 15th Ave graded and 14th Ave sanded
- Feb 21st Approx 12:30 AM 13th Ave graded
- Mar 12th graded the alley—as far as I can see just the 1200 block.
- Mar 27th Graded 1200 block Duffield St W.
Wonderful you say?...No! First of all, it took 5 months to get the block graded and secondly, where do you think they piled the snow and ice? If you said south side of the street, you are right because we all know the sun hits the south side first in spring right.
My next complaint is Coteau Street. This is the only street that goes completely east to west across South Hill. It has lots of potholes west of 9th Avenue W to 12th Avenue W ...and what does the city do? They use the cold mix asphalt (this is my guess) to fill the holes in (well some of them) which is suitable for temporary patching...Yeah, that is why it has been done how many times this winter? Then east of 9th Avenue if you go the speed limit, you may launch yourself because there are so many heaves in the road it almost puts high street to shame. The road from one end to another has cracks, potholes and heaves. It is time to fix it properly, not a little patch job here and a little patch job there. Ninth Ave west is another “take your life in your hands” street. The curb lane on both sides have potholes and crumbing asphalt, some you can’t see because of the water covering it. This avenue has had more work done on it but again it is a patch here and patch there. What is disheartening is seeing the work being done on it and a week or two later same thing taking place in same location.
Yes! Moose Jaw has lots of roads with potholes, crumbing asphalt and heaves but if you look at them they are not in the tourist areas. So if you want to give the tourist the notorious experience, don’t fix “those” roads...work on the ones that have not been done in the last decade or two.
Heather Clark
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
