Last night - we told you all about the big plans for the 50 acre Special Development Area in the Like Independence Area.
There's going to be a 15 million dollar Ministry Of Finance building, a new international bus terminal, and a community resource center. But, how is all this going to be built when the road to the place - Lake I Boulevard - keeps sinking?
It is a subject of great and enduring shame for the Barrow Administration and, for its opponents, a perfect example of the kind of wastage which rewards UDP friendly contractors at the cost of taxpayer dollars.
The Prime Minister has said, ask Christy Mastry from BIL what went wrong. And, right now it's more relevant than ever as development is shooting up in the area. So, yesterday, we did ask Christy - and here's what she said:….
Jules Vasquez- Reporter
"Let me ask you about the other tragedy, one that you have been publicly blamed for, which is the Lake I Boulevard. Explain to me, I see them doing chip and seal on a number of areas. What is the strategy with it at this point?"
Christy Mastry- Director of BIL
"Yes, the main center road, the Lake Independence Boulevard has been a challenge for us along the way. What we do know is that a lot of settlement has taken place. The Ministry of Works has come in and, in many of the areas, solidified that settlement with a chip seal solution at this point in time. We have a lot of construction going on over the next two to three years in this area; over the next five to ten years, we are hoping, in this area, regardless of what government is in play. It is really important that we do keep this road absolutely usable for all of the construction, absolutely usable for all of the cross highway traffic and then we come back and we do a full assessment, whether or not we do need to lift and refill the base course, or if it has settled enough that we can do a final topping."
Jules Vasquez
"$3.5 million has been spent and all we have to show for it is an extremely battered, uneven and broken road. It is an embarrassment. How much more will have to be spent to save it?"
Christy Mastry
"So, it is important to say that for $3.5 million we got a four lane road with all of the side walks and what I always say is, half of the budget you don't see is below grade and that is the drainage. It was very important because we have box culverts on both sides and we have extremely wide sidewalks. So, all of the infrastructure, as far as the drainage and sidewalks, are completely in tack and they are completely recoverable. They are not part of any of the damage. Is the road bad itself? We looked at the numbers earlier and if we had to do a full extraction and replacement to the level that we are doing the new roads in this area now- to the 36 inch deep mixture of hard core material- and remove all of the clay, we were looking at numbers in the $1.1 to $1.5 million range. But if it is only on certain areas where we find are only continuing to sink, as we know we have that on Western and Northern Highway, that would be a far less number. There is nothing else we can do than learn from the mistake that this is very delicate, still consolidating land and we have to make sure that our sub-base is as deep that it can act as a critical structural beam for whatever topping we put on top of those roads."
Jules Vasquez
"You've been publicly blamed by the man with the highest office in the land for it. Do you accept personal or professional responsibility or do you think that it was unfairly put upon you?"
Christy Mastry
"I think it is a shared responsibility. And I think the most responsible thing to do is to defer that question. The only thing we can do to commit to the public is all of us accept the responsibility and let them know that we will not let it happen again."
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