The City and Borough of Wrangell passed a budget of a little over $510,000 for street maintenance this year. It’s part of a plan to replace some degraded roads. The plan starts with the town’s First Avenue and then they’ll move on to repair other roads.
Wrangell resident Jackie DeMontigny is not happy with local roads. She’s also not satisfied with the public process for fixing them. She expressed deep displeasure because the city is replacing asphalt with gravel. DeMontigny called the mayor and met with Borough Manager Mason Villarma to express her concerns. She even protested some of the road work-she parked her truck in front of the work area so road workers couldn’t get through. Her driveway is only accessible from the road.
She said Public Works Director, Tom Wetor, told her the city is going to put in a bigger ditch in that space because the current ditch is on private land. She said that will make the already less than two-lane road even smaller and it will create more dust in the neighborhood since it won’t be paved.
“I have a paved driveway that’s now going to be going down to a dirt road,” DeMontigny said. ” I’m going to bump up the pavement, go 30 feet and bump onto my driveway. And I also think it’s going to be decreased access for safety-fire trucks, ambulance, whatever.”
DeMontigny said that she thinks the public should be better informed about street renovation and that the city should listen to residents’ concerns.
Road maintenance is a critical priority
During the last borough assembly meeting, Borough Manager Mason Villarma said road maintenance is a critical priority that they can’t neglect anymore. He said that he did notify the Borough Assembly that they would be repairing First Avenue in a couple of different meetings.
In response to DeMontigny’s concerns, Villarma said that First Avenue’s asphalt completely failed. He said it’s filled with potholes, especially on the north end where DeMontigny lives. But more than that, he said there is inadequate drainage.
“There’s not adequate ditches there to accommodate the water,” he said. “What ends up happening is the water’s running over the top of the road and going on the adjacent side into the down low property owners’ garages and basements. And so the road’s kind of sloughing off.”
He said the road work will continue along all of First Avenue towards the south side and the gravel makes it easier to maintain the road. He also said it’s the best solution since the city doesn’t have enough funds to do a full paving and utility overhaul.
“It’s not a highly trafficked road,” Villarma said. “If it were to stay gravel it wouldn’t be super concerning, especially given we live in a rainforest. I’m sure it could get dusty in a drought. And, these are just measures we’re taking because road maintenance is top of mind.”
He said that after focusing on First Avenue, the city will then take on McKinnon Street, towards the north of the city. In contrast, it will continue to be concrete with sidewalks.
As for who decides about the roads, Villarma said the Assembly has no authority on what roads to repair, unless it involves a large capital project that they are bonding for or trying to secure other funding. One example is that he proposed to the Assembly to put St. Michael Street on as a bank funding priority.
He said his vision is to do a road project every year during the next few years.
