This culvert, like several along Hwy. 510, is positioned too high to properly collect water, says former Minister of Transportation project manager Bill Woodruff. He also points out that there are large amounts of standing water, including the foot of water laying below the culvert pictured here, in many parts of the highway’s ditches.
MAGNETAWAN — Bill Woodruff knows roads and he doesn’t like what he sees on the recently-reconstructed Hwy. 510.
“I’ve never seen a more poorly designed piece of road,” said Woodruff, who worked for the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) for more than 30 years, including acting as a senior project supervisor and at the engineering services branch. “As a taxpayer, this is just, to me, ludicrous.”
Between August and September, $710,500 was spent on the notoriously bumpy road, in a project that included culvert replacements, drainage improvements, additional granular base and two applications of surface treatments, with a third planned for next year.
MTO staff monitored and inspected the project throughout construction, said MTO regional issues advisor Gordan Rennie.
But Woodruff says the highway is already showing problem signs.
On Oct. 22 Woodruff provided the Almaguin News with a tour of the highway and the problems he perceives.
Hwy. 510 was built atop Nipissing Road, an old colonization road, he said. “It was a wagon road and its never been rebuilt since. It’s just been added to.”
It was built as a corduroy road, where logs are laid perpendicular to the travel-way to reinforce the road over swampy areas.
The construction method was fine in older times when no heavy vehicles travelled the roads, he said.
The logs are protected from rot because of the lack of oxygen available to them, but frost does heave them. This old structure is still in place under the roadbed.
One of Woodruff’s main concerns is with drainage on the highway.
The culverts, he said, are sitting too high to collect water. He points out several that are sitting six to eight inches above the top of pooled water in the ditches. In some locations he toured, there was a foot or more of water laying in the ditch.
Woodruff also pointed out large rocks sitting in the middle of ditches. They are an obstacle to water flow, he said, that would have been normally blasted out.
Woodruff said he believes there was no blasting involved in this project.
Woodruff also said he thinks that proper ditching for this type of highway would consist of a rock-free metre-deep trench on both sides.
Parts of the current ditch are too deep, he said, and other parts too shallow.
He also expressed concern that areas of the highway don’t have rock formations blasted away near the shoulder, creating a hazard should a car leave the roadway.
Some parts also leave little room for snow storage, he said.
Woodruff points out numerous forming pot holes and dips in the road.
He also shows off a mud patch on the shoulder of the road that is springy, even to human weight. It gives an inch or two if stepped on.
He says the mud is percolating up from the road’s base.
In other places, the road’s shoulders are soft, he says, because of the standing water in nearby ditches.
Woodruff points out standing water at the top of a hill.
“Go to any place on (any other) highway and you won’t see water,” he said.
The road was stripped of its asphalt during construction and received a surface treatment.
It’s the proper type of treatment for this type of highway, Woodruff said.
However, he questions whether its removal has weakened the roadway.
“This road had at least a foot of asphalt on it, which was the carrying structure of the road.”
Woodruff emphasizes that he does not blame the contractor for his perceived short-comings, since they were only going by the MTO’s instructions.
But he says, in his opinion, Hwy. 510 does not conform to the set standards for a secondary highway.
“I just don’t think the taxpayers are getting what they paid for,” Woodruff said.
Though portions of the highway will likely by fine for the meantime, he said other parts are “going to pieces this spring.”
Woodruff said he estimates a proper job on the 2.8 kilometre highway would cost at least double the $710,000 price tag.
The MTO was asked to comment on Woodruff’s comments.
Rennie responded in a brief e-mail, saying the recent upgrades to the highway do meet ministry specifications for a secondary highway.
He added that the MTO will continue to monitor the road on a regular basis.
Editorial
