I totally agree! As a new resident to the area, I find it disgraceful that I have had to repair front ends in all our vehicles, replace under carriage parts that have been torn off vehicles as a result of the poor road conditions, and have had to phone people to pull me out of ruts(Not the ditch..the middle of the road). We have spent more in the last year and a half in repairs to our vehicles, than in the last 5 combined. When it costs $1500.00 to replace a front end and $500.00 to replace an exhaust system on a full size truck, I can't imagine the damage being done to the cars and smaller vehicles. It's an absolute embarassment. School buses are late because they are getting stuck, and I have even observed a bus, so dirty from splashing through the enormous holes, that the flashing safety light was NOT visible. There is an increased risk on these RM roads due to their poor condition. I can't imagne the potential danger with the busy farming season, young or inexperienced drivers, etc. Where are the graders?? And the gravel?? Clay doesn't make for solid roads..I AGREE - FIX IT

Yeah let's bring back Lenard Blocka as reeve.

I think someone should get some pics of this road especially in the spot where the 3 foot ruts are.

It's not only the cars & smaller vehicles that are being damaged on this road. I saw a semi that had a mangled front bumper after hitting one of these holes on the road. If it does this much damage to a huge vehicle like that, then our smaller ones have no hope! I don't want to know what it will cost to replace that truck's front end, I hope they send the bill to the RM. Perhaps we all should.

The RM has an office....a walk in the door is more effective than a phone call, and alot more effective than posting here.

I agree that the roads in the RM are bad and we need more experienced grader operators ,But they will never get any better when large vehicles are driving on them when the road is still soft from the rain.
I live on the Fenton grid and have observed a loaded semi and 2 loaded grain trucks driving on the grid during the last rainstorm and the day after it stopped while road is still saturated. The roads are never going to get any better with idiots like this abusing them.
Today i watched a farmer with his tractor drive through a soft spot on the road right after the grader fixed it. he left ruts so deep I could barely make it through with my pickup. Then the grader had to waste time and go back and try to fix it again. How can they make any headway with morons like this on the road?

In Reply to Mr H, Thank you for your concerns but you obviously don't live out in this area and probably never have had to deal with this RM. A walk in the door doesn't do any good, you get the same response as you do with a phone call and that is nothing and no one. This has been ongoing for 2 years since "she" got elected!!! No one will respond to any of our concerns. IT is horrible out here there are no markers of the dangerous spots, these are located between huge sloughs and you don't see it until you are over the hill. I might also add that obviously me putting this on here must have did something because yesterday the grader did a cover up of the ruts and some gravel was dumped, but it's still not fixed it's a cover up!

I live in this RM and the "she" you speak of is doing a extraordinary job!! Lenoard Blocka kept all the roads in the west top notch but I can tell you our areas where neglected. Now the graders do all the roads not favoritism to one area. Mr. Block didn't deal with the roads being flooded and in bad repair until it was election time - TO LATE- that's why he's not sitting in the Reeve chair.

In reply to halfacres: You obviously don't understand what a grid road signifies - it is supposed to be able to handle large vehicles, including tractors. I truly hope that you are a self sufficient individual - and don't eat bread, drink milk or beer, or consume any beef, chicken, eggs, or whatever. These "morons" that drive tractors are trying to plant crops etc. to feed the community and the world. Perhaps you should move back to the city - you don't deserve to live out there. If life stopped just because it rained then all the roads would be wonderful.

The school bus does the most damage to the RM's roads, they travel on the roads every day, twice a day, follow the same ruts, rain or shine. The big trucks cause damage to the roads traveling on them when they are saturated with water. If there is a big slough on either side of the road, then I guess the road will be saturated with water too, so yeah the road will be soft there too. Your average truck or car, driving in excess of 80khm throws gravel off the road. People must understand that the fact that it rains for 3 days the water and dirt turn to mud. Those people who move from the city to the rural area thinking its pavement, give your head a shake, even the city roads that are paved are not perfect, some of the city roads are just as bad as rural roads. You can phone and complain all you would like, but there is only so much that can be done while the roads are wet, if you think because the surface of the road is dry, then the rest of it should be dry as well, your wrong. As for the farmers who live in the area and use these roads, you do just as much damage as the school buses, a grader cannot follow behind the careless farmer as he ruts the sh it out of the roads.

LOL Crazygnome thinks the city roads are are better than our grid roads? Sorry Crazy but the RMs do a better job of looking after the roads than the city.
And yes after a rain they get a little sloppy but when you live in the country you understand that but consider what the city folks pay in taxes for the pothloes they put up with? I'll live with a little slop and if it gets bad I'll go out and fix it myself (on out road we don't always wait for the grader, he's busy and we have the eqipment to do the job).

Reply TO Crazynome, This has nothing to do with buses, big trucks, sloughs or rain. It's called maintenance and proper maintenance. You don't build up one part of the road then 2 months later come back and redo it. You do the entire part and do it right the first time so you aren't wasting tax payers dollars. A grader and gravel goes a long ways. An experienced grader operator that knows what they are doing also helps. You don't take the crown off the road, you leave the crown so the water can run off, not sit in the middle. Go west, cross the macdowel meridian you are now on the RM of Duck Lake, there side roads are maintained and in better condition then the main grids here in the RM of PA. As for you Crazenome you should give your head a shake and quit putting the blame on farmers, school buses ect. By the way I AM NOT a city folk. Have lived here all my life and in the last 2 years the roads have gone right to hell. You can thank the "new reeve"..

Ok lets get somethings staight , firstly I heard that the RM did a tour of all of the roads and declared West Central road the best one in the RM. With all the complaints about it where does that leave the rest of us because I know first hand almost every road in this RM are terrible. So if that one is the best just imagine what the rest look like!!!!
Secondly, one person commented that the current reeve has done an extraordinary job, if that is true how do you define a bad job? Because if such a good job is being done it sure does not seem to include the RM's number one responsibity of maintaning a healthy road system.
Thirdly we all know full well that the current reeve did not run for office because of roads!!!!!!!! We could not of all forgot the real motivation already could we?

As the wife of a grader operator within the province of Saskatchewan, and someone who spent her formative years in a rural setting, might I add a different perspective.. From the comments I have read here, I see a common theme in laying blame on the reeve. Perhaps a good place to start, as they ARE the top banana. But certainly not the only place. There are ALOT of mitigating circumstances that account for the current conditions of the roads in our province. Obviously weather plays a large factor in the condition of roads. I recall someone mentioning what school buses or a semi and loaded trucks did to their road. All rutted up and in need of repair! Soft spots everywhere! And everyone wants their road done as quickly as possible! And who could blame them? Now imagine a machine that out-weighs a John Deere 9560R, but only has one set of wheels per axle no matter what the condition of the road. This machine is also, while performing it's task , pushing sixteen feet of steel into the road in order to correct any deficiencies. Now really, if YOU cannot drive safely down these roads in those conditions, how in the world would you expect a grader to make it? It is, I'm sorry to say, a machine, not a fairy godmother. The assessment that skill may be a factor is also correct. But please don't paint the entire R.M. staff with the same brush! As in every workplace, I bet there are those who will excel at their job, and love what they do! Get to know your operators! They work hard to maintain your roads the best they can, and I can say with all sincerity that most likely all the staff care! I'm even willing to bet that there are some staffers there who are also rate payers! How big is the R.M.? How many kilometers of grade-able roads are there needing attention? I looked it up, and the R.M. of Prince Albert has 605kms of designated road plus machinery trails and three sub-divisions. And four graders. And a ton of angry rate payers justifiably wanting THEIR road fixed. Almost sounds like we need some sort of divine intervention to make everyone happy. The farmers need good road to access their fields. The school buses need to get the kids to school. And all the non-farming rate payers need to get to work. And believe it or not, the employees understand and want to rectify the situation. Road maintenance is very important to all employees of the R.M. THIS is what your tax dollars goes toward! Ratepayers need to understand that yes, sometimes your road is going to suck. As a kid I knew that. It sucked even more when your vehicle was a bicycle with fenders! But there is only so much they can do in a day. Roads, when dry enough to be on, are graded at a blistering speed of anywhere between five and eight kilometers per hour. They are trying. They really are trying. They just need your patience and understanding.

The people in this community are generally easy going, compassionate, and very neighborly. However, there is nothing saying that we are not frustrated as well! Jack has made some very good points, as had the grader operator's wife. We know our operators, and don't doubt that they have good intentions. When they are told to "patch" a road instead of "fix", that is what creates the problem.(Well, my belief is that the problems started when all the gravel trucks were hauling on it when the highway was being twinned.) This road had many flagged danger zones last year, and was never fixed properly. To date it has only worsened. The point is if these spots had been repaired properly there wouldn't be the concern and complaints you see here.

We are not idiots, nor unreasonable. We pay our taxes. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that when you ignore a problem of any kind, it will only worsen. If you don't have the skills or necessary knowledge of your job - get them! You have been either hired or elected, and you are ultimately responsible. Someone is going to be badly hurt, or killed because of these roads, and then it will be too late!

Interesting to notice how some work has been done to START to fix and improve the road system, time will tell if it continues, the road crew need to be thanked for trying. A comment was made about the current Reeve and why she ran for office, many of us now realize that it was a personel agenda, we sure lost great leadership from the past Reeve. We have also noticed that we have councillors now that look after their own needs, ie: building roads and approaches for themselves, what a disgrace. So many of us made a mistake in the last election by being fooled by the people that ran, it likely will not happen in the upcoming election, time to restore some credibility to the RM of Prince Albert.. Hats off to the road crew for trying.
Disappointed ratepayer

There are many issues that are underlying and much deception that is taking place with the Reeve and RM. How I see it something has to be done before someone gets injured on this grid. It's frustrating to see these areas that are temporarily patched and there is NO warning of the danger on these roads. NO MARKERS, nothing! Come on RM put some markers up to show people that these areas are dangerous or has the RM ran out of surveying stakes and orange paint!! Ridiculous!! Get some markers up!!!