Selkirk’s Capital Asset Management Program (CAMP)
Like many cities in Canada, Selkirk is facing challenges of continuing to deliver urban services to its citizens with aging infrastructure. Construction and maintenance costs for roads, pipes, facilities and other infrastructure continues to grow much faster than the rate of inflation. Selkirk developed CAMP to address these challenges.
Over time, CAMP will help Selkirk improve the quality of our infrastructure at the lowest cost possible. It will help us extend the life of our infrastructure, improve the quality of services we provide, and reduce the long-term financial impacts to our taxpayers.
What is CAMP?
It’s an integrated system of processes that brings together skilled people, leading practices, and high-quality information about a community’s infrastructure and finances. These processes help the city make better, more sustainable decision related to infrastructure:
- Capital Projects
- Maintenance
- Renewal
- Operating
- Replacement
- Disposal
Spending $1 on preventative road maintenance during the first three quarters of the road’s estimated lifespan can save us $6 to $10 in costs later in the road’s life.
Why CAMP?
CAMP is helping us deliver municipal services in a responsible manner by:
- Improving the condition of existing infrastructure.
- Keeping taxes low by extending the life of our infrastructure and offering new, more cost-effective ways of operating and maintaining it.
- Keeping taxes low in the future, by ensuring we can plan for the long-term and to take steps today to reduce future costs.
In order to offer all of our city’s services, we need to own and manage a lot of infrastructure, over $394 million worth, to be exact.
The city is investing $3.6 million into road and underground infrastructure this year.
200 Block of Taylor Avenue & 400 Block of Eveline Street
The 200 block of Taylor Avenue and the 400 block of Eveline Street will see a new watermain liner, wastewater pipe renewal, and roadway restoration (including new curbing). A new sidewalk will also be installed on Taylor.
The watermain liner will extend service life and improve service to the area, which has been prone to water main breaks in recent years. Wastewater pipe renewal will extend service life and reduce the risk of sewer failure. Roadway restoration will create a safer and more accessible surface for both motorists and pedestrians. Sidewalk installation will improve safety for pedestrians and connect to the city’s existing pathways and sidewalks, encouraging active living.
Main Street North Landscaping & Naturalization
Phase 2 of Main Street North landscaping will take place this year, including the planting of native grasses and plants, as well as drainage swale seeding and the installation of rain gardens, mostly on medians from Manitoba to Taylor. Swales are gently sloping channels designed to move water.
Rain Gardens are a mix of shrubs, perennials, and flowers planted in a depression, formed on a natural slope.
They are designed to temporarily hold rainwater from the street, preventing that water from entering the stormwater system all at once. The plants will be watered as water slowly soaks into the ground.
Rain gardens also filter out pollutants and are dry most of the time, typically only holding water during a rain event.
Mercy Street Bike Lane and Resurfacing
A dedicated bike lane that runs on the west side of the entire length of Mercy Street from Manchester to Greenwood will be installed. This will be a separated lane, located off of the road surface. New asphalt overlay will be added on Mercy from Strathnaver to Pacific and from Vaughan to McLean.
New road surface will create a safer, more accessible street surface and will improve driving conditions, lessening strain on vehicles. The addition of a dedicated bike lane on Mercy will allow cyclists to travel north/south safely from one end of Selkirk to another.
Cyclists will be connected to Selkirk’s existing Active Transportation Network that travels east/west towards Eveline Street into Selkirk Park and connects residents to various recreational and shopping destinations in the city, while also making it easier for residents to actively and safely commute throughout the city.
The new bike lane will pass four schools, allowing students to actively and safely make their way to and from school.
Phase 2 of the Force Main Tie-in to the Dufferin Avenue Lift Station
The work to add an additional force main that runs along Main Street and carries 90% of the city’s sewage to the wastewater treatment plant was completed last year. This year, pending the award of a tender, phase 2 of the force main project will take place on Dufferin Avenue.
This project is once again adding a new secondary pipe alongside the existing pipe. The road surface on Dufferin will be cut in just three places to accomplish this work.
The installation of a new secondary pipe enables switching between the old and new pipes, providing operational flexibility for maintenance and upgrades without service interruptions. This significantly enhances the reliability of our sewage transportation system and reduces the risk of mass sewage discharges into the Red River.
Urban Tree Canopy
This year, 400 trees will be planted throughout the city. Some of them will be planted in soil cells that were installed last year in preparation for the new trees this spring. Soil cells are modular, suspended pavement systems designed to support large tree growth and manage stormwater in urban areas by providing ample, uncompacted soil volume beneath pavements.
The benefits of trees in a community are many, including improving mental and physical health, cooling air, reducing energy consumption, encouraging traffic calming, providing shade, enriching biodiversity, managing stormwater, improving air quality, mitigating climate change and increasing property values.
Tree planting is set to take place in the following areas in Selkirk in 2025:
- Christie Avenue from Annie to Agnes
- Clandeboye Avenue from Mercy to Sophia
- Dorchester Avenue from Eveline to Tait
- Jemima Street from McLean to Sutherland
- Netley Avenue from Main to Sophia
- Queen Avenue from Sophia to Jemima
- Sophia Street from Dufferin to Strathnaver
- Strathnaver Avenue from Main to Eveline
- Sutherland Avenue from Main to Eveline
- Vaughan Avenue from Main to Eveline
Maintaining Our Infrastructure
As part of CAMP, the city does annual inspections of road surfaces, hydrants, playgrounds, sports fields, all fleet, parking lots and other assets in a scheduled rotation.
Potholes are assessed as they are filled, and they are marked and monitored to see if there is a recurring problem.
A detailed assessment of all city sidewalks is conducted every three years and the city does targeted panel-by-panel repairs to areas that are well-damaged or deteriorated.
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