Rural residents going with the flow and believing the highways department is responsible for maintaining and clearing all culverts have received a plug from Powell River Regional District.
At the regional board’s January 15 committee of the whole meeting, directors were reminded, in light of heavy rainstorms in December, that performance of rural culverts was questioned at the December 17, 2014 meeting of the regional board. The board requested staff clarify responsibilities for culvert maintenance in the rural areas.
Ryan Thoms, manager of emergency services for Powell River Regional Emergency Program, said staff from the ministry of transportation and infrastructure (MOTI) have stated that the maintenance of all culverts in the rural areas associated with residential driveways are the responsibility of the private property owner.
Thoms said there are regional district properties that have culverts that fall into this category.
“They have not been falling into our maintenance schedule,” he said. “I think there is a misunderstanding out there and that’s what the board brought up back before Christmas. The misunderstanding through the rural areas is about when it’s the landowner’s responsibility to look after culverts. They can clearly see [MOTI] maintaining the ditch, ‘why don’t they do my culvert?’”
Thoms said when he spoke with MOTI representatives, it was quite clear that if the culvert crosses a property owner’s private access, it is the property owner’s responsibility to maintain, repair and replace.
The regional district has 61 properties and, of those, 30-plus fall under this category according to Mike Wall, manager of community services.
Thoms said in a recent presentation from MOTI and Capilano Highway Services, they are working toward a program recognizing the need to replace culverts, upscale them, and go from metal to plastic.
“A lot of ours are rusting out earlier than they should.”
Sandy McCormick, Electoral Area D director, said she did a walkabout on Texada Island shortly after the December storm and there were culverts that were completely blocked. A wooden culvert had collapsed.
“It’s clear they aren’t being inspected or maintained so it’s site inspection and maintenance that we’d really like to see happen,” she said.
Regulations indicate MOTI is responsible for the maintenance of all other culverts on provincial highways and side roads throughout the rural areas. MOTI is also responsible for maintenance of all ditches along provincial highways and side roads.
