Duane Hicks
Phase II of the biomass road construction project—which this year will see the reconstruction of Portage Avenue from First Street to Third Street, and Fifth Street to Sixth Street—is expected to start up the second week of May.
While details of the construction schedule still are being worked out, Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown said Bay City Contracting of Thunder Bay has indicated it wants to start May 11.
“One of the reasons why is there is a lot of watermain work this year,” Brown explained, adding that temporary water lines will be set up but the contractor wants to be sure it’s warm enough that these don’t freeze.
Brown said sometime between now and May 10, the town will meet with the general contractor and project consultant, then hold a public meeting in the evening for local residents.
This will be publicized once a meeting date is set.
“I haven’t seen the construction schedule yet for this one,” noted Brown. “[But] I know it will be less work than last year.
“We’re starting at First Street and going all the way to Sixth Street, along Portage, but not through the underpass,” he stressed.
Still, he said the underpass will have to be temporarily closed when work is being done at the intersections at Third Street East and Portage Avenue and Fifth Street East and Portage, estimating those intersections will be have to be closed for a week at a time.
Details, such as how detours will work when the underpass is temporarily closed, will be explained at the yet-to-be scheduled public meeting.
Meanwhile, referring to an issue that came up at the first biomass roads project public meeting last spring, Brown confirmed residents will not see the sidewalk on the east side of the 700 and 900 blocks of Portage Avenue removed as previously planned.
This was decided by council back on Feb. 8 after it approved a recommendation from the Operations and Facilities executive committee, which said the sidewalk should stay due to the fact the east ones were replaced in 1999.
As such, the sections of sidewalk are relatively young in age and not due for replacement for an estimated 39 years.
As well, the 1999 replacement of the sidewalks was completed under a local improvement program, where the abutting property owners have just completed paying for.
Last year’s work included the reconstruction of the roads, as well as the water and sewer infrastructure, on Victoria Avenue from Front Street to Nelson Street, Nelson Street from Victoria Avenue to Portage Avenue, and Portage Avenue from Nelson Street to First Street.
“This one won’t affect the hospital, jail, clinic. It’s a little bit easier,” noted Brown. “But it affects the north end with the underpass.
“Like school buses—if we do the two intersections while school’s in, buses have got to be transferred around,” he explained.
“Some of the things that come out of these public meetings help us organize better. That’s why we’re looking to do one,” Brown added.
Bay City Contracting of Thunder Bay is the general contractor, with Engineering Northwest acting as field inspector and project administrator.
In related news, while the major work on the Portage Avenue underpass may been done last year, the town still may do a few more related jobs there this summer, including a new pumphouse foundation, storm sewer force main, railway pipe crossing, and fencing.
These items currently are slated in the town’s 2010 budget, but Brown said some details of this work still have to be worked out and approvals received from CN and affected property owners.
However, he pointed out this work, which is mainly being done at the pumphouse and surrounding northwest quadrant, only will have a minimal effect on underpass traffic.
In other news, Brown said residents can expect a water restriction sometime in June due to a required inspection of the water tower.
He explained the water tower, which was repainted in 2008, must be inspected, which will involve draining the tank, inspecting it, refilling the tank, re-chlorinatng it, and sending out water samples for testing.
“That’s maybe two weeks to three weeks the water tower will be down, so there will be a water restriction put into place,” noted Brown, adding he wanted to give residents a “heads up” that it would be happening in a couple of months.
Brown also said the town has not heard any word regarding “Connecting Link” funding to reconstruct Scott Street from Reid Avenue to Colonization Road East this year.
Last spring, town council awarded, in principle, Tender No. 09-OF-02 to Tom Veert Contracting Ltd. at an estimated cost of $1,966,569.50, with the understanding that once Ministry of Transportation funding is in place, the town would execute the contract documents.
But after failing to receive provincial funding to do it, the town formed an agreement with Tom Veert Contracting Ltd. to extend the prices they quoted last year into this year just in case the town gets the money to do the job in the next couple of months.
