UPDATE: The Cost to Fix Bayfield Street Just Doubled, But So Did The Workload

City To Rehabilitate Bayfield Instead of Patch Potholes, Paid For Via Federal Gas Tax

You can blame something called “ultra-thin white topping concrete” for the craters along Bayfield St. and the extra funds needed to fix it. A small strip of this material installed in 2004 has eroded to the point where Bayfield is nearly undriveable, and city staff are asking for nearly a million dollars more to fix it. Not just fix it, however, but a full rehabilitation to give the roadway a new lifespan of ten years, hence the extra cost. The $960,000 city staff are asking for would come via the Federal Gas Tax Reserve Fund, money set aside for just such an occasion, instead of from the taxpayer’s bottom line. This would bring the total cost to get Bayfield Street back into shape to $1,860,000 and staff are asking that future Bayfield St. resurfacing budgets be reduced by $960,000 to balance it out in the long run. As the funds are just now being approved, there is no timeline for construction, but city staff say it is likely Bayfield will be restructured at night; the roadway sees about 50,000 vehicles a day, and the impact to daytime traffic right down to, and onto, the 400, have been deemed too great. Night work would hopefully mitigate any major delays. Funding was giving the initial nod at last week’s meeting, while the final rubber stamping came at last evening’s meet.