Athabasca County would like to update the residents and businesses of roads, road conditions and planned repairs.
During the 2026 budget deliberations, Council prioritized gravel road maintenance, gravel and upgrades; however, our late spring snowstorm and constant rains have hampered the County moving forward with the aggressive new program. This is the first year of a 3-year rotation for gravel spread. Prior to this budget cycle, Athabasca County had used a 4-year cycle for gravel spread on roads. The official gravel haul program has not yet started, but it is being coordinated to begin soon.
With the additional budget committed to emergent spring road repairs, the County will aim to get 1,000 kms of the 2,400 kms of road graveled this year. This is quite an aggressive goal given that 2 weeks of work have already been lost to rain. Prior to this year, the target would have been 600 kms (1/4 of 2,400 kms), so this is an increase of 400 kms planned for gravel.
The County currently has 14 graders and 1 spare grader that look after 2,400 kms of gravel roads, with 2 casual operators who cover off vacation time and sick time. There are currently no vacant positions that are open in Public Works.
For 2026, the County has changed the gravel specifications so that the crushed gravel has less fines in it with more coarse rock. This should, over time, create a more suitable road surface during periods of rain; however, we anticipate this will take up to 3 years to get all the roads graveled with the new specification.
The County has changed a position dedicated entirely to gravel roads (foreman). This primary role will focus only on graders and gravel. We have also brought in a very reputable grader training consultant to work with some of our newer operators to ensure that we have a consistent approach to how roads should be maintained.
Unfortunately, with small windows of opportunity to get the graders and gravel trucks on the roads between rainstorms, we are significantly behind schedule of where we would like to be.
The County cannot provide an estimate of time to get caught up, as this is highly dependent on the weather. We can assure residents that when there is a reprieve from the endless amount of rain, we will be utilizing all available resources and contractors to assist us with getting caught up on both our road repairs from spring and our annual programs.
Thank you for your patience while we make the necessary repairs.
