The companies that dig up Toronto roads to build and repair pipes, cables and other connections will be facing a new city fee that will go to properly repair roads scarred by multiple utility cuts.
"You can see the impact of utility cuts on the conditions of our roads in terms of structural integrity, usability and visual impact," said Mayor David Miller at a road-side news conference today, as he pointed to a rough patch of pavement along Yonge Street. "We accept the need for utility cuts into roads to install or locate infrastructure... But there are more than 38,000 cuts each year and it's growing annually."Miller was introducing a policy to be debated at next week's public works and infrastructure committee.If approved, Toronto will levy a new fee against companies that maintain their infrastructure underneath city streets. The pavement degradation charge will mean companies that dig up streets that have recently been repaved by the city will have to pay a fee of approximately $20 per square meter of cut.That fee is in addition to their responsibility to perform a temporary repair after they're finished, and to cover the city's costs in making a permanent repair on the cut.The new fee would cover the cost of returning the overall road to its pristine state.Miller said the damaged pavement needs that repair."The utility cuts make the roads look terrible and riding on them uncomfortable and sometimes hazardous," said Miller, who added that covered utility cuts cause "tens of thousands of potholes."The fee will raise approximately $4 million, and go into a reserve fund to cover the cost of resurfacing roads. That's in addition to the $43 million the city bills utility companies for the basic repairs.Utility companies can dodge the fee, however, if they time their work so as to dig up roads that are in poor shape and scheduled for resurfacing by the city anyway."You cut into a new road, you pay a lot - you cut into an old road, you don't pay anything," said Miller.The fee got a warm reception from advocates for road users - a cooler response from utilities.Faye Lyons of the Canadian Automobile Association said the fee is a good start to repairing Toronto's rough roads."We're pleased to see the city is looking at solutions for dedicated money for transportation infrastructure," she said. "Last year it was very common we heard complaints from our members about patchwork and ruts."However, she said the city should be dedicating the $60 million it receives from the personal vehicle registration tax each year to road repairs.Yvonne Banbrick of the Toronto Cyclist's Union said the repairs should make a difference to two-wheeled riders, too."The utility cuts have been a problem," she said. "You can feel your teeth rattle as you go through some parts of the city, and it's worse this year it seems. It's understandable, these things have to happen. But scheduling is key and making sure they're in synch with the city's roadworks - it has less of an impact."The city may encounter pushback from some utilities, however.Enbridge Gas spokesperson Lisa McCarney-Warus said the utility already pays significant fees to deal with road repairs."We pay the city the cost of permanent repairs and last year we paid $20 million toward that," she said. "We're also the only utility that pays taxes for our plant and in 2008 we paid $8 million. Since we're already paying for temporary repairs and permanent repairs we don't want another cost on top of that. Our costs are passed on to consumers and we don't want consumers to have to pay more."