At the regular meeting of Yorkton Council a recommendation that the 2019 Bridges Project contract be part of the North Sewer System Upgrades Project budgeted at $11,130,000 and furthermore, award the 2019 Bridges Project contract to Graham Construction and Engineering LP, for their bid of $7,625,700.00 (taxes included) was passed but just barely.
Three Councillors; Randy Goulden, Quinn Haider and Ken Chyz sat opposed.
The stumbling block for the trio appeared to centre on a detour upgrade which was not part of the recommendation.
Had the upgrade been approved the contractor would have constructed a detour “for the Hwy 9 Bridge that would allow for continuous two-way traffic instead of only 1-way and would eliminate the need for traffic to be stopped by temporary traffic lights as is more common during bridge construction and included in the base bid.
Having a two-way detour would reduce traffic delays and therefore reduce complaints from the general public and surrounding RM’s during the estimated three months of construction. The proposed additional cost for this detour upgrade is $291,930 (taxes included),” detailed a report circulated at the Meeting.
“I’m more concerned about the safety issue,” said Goulden.
Coun. Aaron Kienle wanted clarification, knowing consultant engineers had done modeling regarding traffic flows if only one detour road was built. He asked for details on the results.
René Richard, Director of Engineering with the City, while he would anticipate the public might not be completely happy, the data collected by traffic flows suggested there will not be a dangerous backlog of traffic if only one detour were built.
“I envision complaints, but not severe back-ups,” he said.
The overall project goes back to 2017, when “Council supported the application for the Provincial-Territo rial Infrastructure Component (PTIC) Grant titled “North Sewer Systems Upgrades.” The overall project includes construction of a new sanitary sewer trunk main, upgrades to the north drainage channel, and bridge work to replace existing culverts,” said Richard.
“The overall project was estimated and approved for a total budget of $11,130,000 of which the total eligible costs will be divided up equally between the city of Yorkton, the provincial government and the federal government. The objective of the grant program is to support infrastructure projects related to economic growth, a clean environment and stronger communities. As provincial and federal funding was secured, the “2019 Bridges Project” was tendered in February 2019.
“The 2019 Bridges Project tender includes the bridge work associated with the North Sewer Systems Upgrades grant, sewer trunk main and ditch construction associated with the North Sewer Systems Upgrades grant project, major rehabilitation of the Darlington Street Overpass and a new pedestrian bridge on Dracup Avenue. The highway culvert replacement is of utmost importance. Should the culverts fail before replacement, over 90 per cent of the City’s storm water runoff would not be able to exit the City causing large scale flooding.”
