Report sounds alarm on aging infrastructure
A report on the state of infrastructure in cities across the country says more than a quarter of Ottawa's pipe infrastructure and about 15 per cent of the city's roads are more than 40 years old.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ infrastructure report card identified roads as the biggest problem across the country, and estimated it would cost about $91.1 billion to fix all the roads rated from fair to very poor.
The report, released Tuesday, comes as the City of Ottawa continues repairs on a storm drain pipe that failed last week, creating a large sinkhole that swallowed a car travelling east on Highway 174.
It found:
27 per cent of Ottawa's pipe infrastructure is more than 40 years old, and 50 per cent is between 20 and 40 years old.
Fifteen per cent of the city's roads are more than 40 years old, and another 20 per cent are between 20 and 40 years old.
While the pipes may be older, they are also generally built to last longer, with most sewers expected to last for over 100 years. Roads, on the other hand, have a lifecycle ranging from 15 to 18 years for expressways and 40 to 50 years for local rural roads.
Reg Andres, the vice president of the Society of Civil Engineering, a partner in the study, said those life spans only serve as guidelines.
"What we need the owners of infrastructure to do is go in and investigate what the actual condition is," said Andres.
"Right now if all the best we have is we know it has a life expectancy of 50 years and it's now at 45 years... we may be pushing the envelope."
The storm drain pipe that failed last Tuesday had been inspected last summer and identified for replacement this summer, but the city did not identify the pipe as in need of urgent repair.
