Windsor city council wants to push the upper levels of government to provide funding to address residential road repairs.
During Monday's meeting, council passed a motion calling on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) to advocate for residential road repair funding from the federal and provincial governments.
Ward 6 councillor Jo-Anne Gignac, who introduced the motion, says they get funding from the upper levels of government for major road work for routes that serve as economic drivers but residential roads continue to need significant dollars.
Gignac says all of the major thoroughfares that move traffic through the city are important.
"The kilometre comparison with our residential roads, which granted only carry local residents to their homes, but there is nothing more frustrating than coming home from work, you turn onto your residential road and it's pit," she says.
City officials estimate over $300-million is needed to fix and repair every deficient road in Windsor.
Windsor's residential road system covers 668 kilometres with 20% listed as "now-deficient" or 133 kilometres of the residential roads.
Gignac says they do try to coordinate with the Windsor Utilities Commission to make sure any sewer or water work happens at the same time as road work.
"We all get it around the table in terms of limited dollars to ensure you keep everything moving forward, keeping the tax levy reasonable and at the same time delivering your services. The residential roads are really starting to cause all of us some real concerns," she says.
Gignac says every councillor around the table has issues with residential roads in their ward.
"All of these people, public works and engineering, they know. They definitely want to do more but we're limited in the dollars we have," she adds.
The city's $1.9-billion 10-year capital budget includes $569-million for roads in 2024, $471 million for sewers, and $183 million for parks and recreation.