Roads

Graders

Kneehill County has 10 divisional graders that cover 120 miles each. Graders can accomplish 1-8 miles a day, taking roughly 17 days to complete a route, depending on the weather. 

Kneehill County also has 2 roamer graders that apply the spring Dust Control Program, fill in over the summer, and maintain high-traffic and problematic roads, as assessed by Road Supervisors.

Due to grader purchase costs increasing, grader replacement occurs every 7 years, instead of every 5, reducing grader costs to an average of $122/hr with an operator. Utilizing different grader blades, such as carbide, Sandvik tips, and P300, help reduce the number of blade changes, saving time and also reducing replacement costs. 

Gravel

Kneehill County uses 5 gravel trucks to achieve over 400 miles of graveling every year. There are currently 9 stockpile locations in Kneehill County. In 2020, a new stockpile location north of Trochu will help reduce gravel delivery times. Currently, Kneehill County has a 5 year supply of 3/4 inch road crush stockpiled. 

Each year, 125,000t of gravel is used for re-graveling, and 20,000t - 25,000t is used for road repairs. Roads are assessed every 3 years and re-graveled based on need, as determined by the foreman. 

The general, overall cost to deliver gravel to the road top is $20.00/tonne. A local roadway will receive on average 250t per mile, and an Arterial/Collector road will receive 400t per mile, equalling anywhere from $5000.00 to $8000.00 per mile.