Bike lanes help push paving over-budget
Councillor regrets approving project after raised asphalt paths, higher concrete prices lead to $700,000 hike in costs
Cody Punter
Northern News Services
Published Friday, April 25 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The city is contemplating whether to postpone some of its scheduled roadwork after cost estimates for paving on two of the roads came in more than $1 million higher than expected.
A total of $5.36 million was budgeted to repave a number of streets across the city this summer after city council authorized administration to borrow $20 million to pay for a new water treatment plant in 2012, which was then re-directed for infrastructure replacements.
Although the city says work on most streets will cost less than projected, the repaving of 52 Avenue and 50 Street is now expected to come in $706,233 and $324,844 over budget respectively.
According to administration, one of the reasons for the price increase is that the only company that bid on the contract, NWT Construction Ltd., inexplicably raised the cost of doing concrete work for sidewalks and decorative features such as tree planters by 25 per cent since last year. The company's bid for repaving projects on eight different locations around the city totals $6.1 million.
In the case of 52 Avenue, costs are also going up due to the addition of bike lanes, which were approved by council in February.
The news comes despite the fact that at the time of approval, the city maintained the financial impact of the bike lanes would be minimal because they would be paved with asphalt, which is cheaper than concrete.
However, Chris Greencorn, director of public works, said because council ended up voting in favour of installing raised bike lanes that are flush with the sidewalk rather than simply painting lines on the road, the cost is now higher than anticipated.
City officials couldn't say how much the raised bike lanes contributed to the $700,000 deficit on the 52 Avenue repaving project, but it was clearly a factor.
"I think this indicates that we perhaps moved forward too quickly with this and that administration didn't have time to truly flesh out the costs," Coun. Adrian Bell told Yellowknifer.
"This is what happens when you insert priorities in the short term that don't appear in the general plan."
Bell said if he had known how much bike lanes would cost the city, he would have voted differently.
"To me, when you say that council strategically supported something and now we're getting back what it is that we supported - we don't support that at any cost," he said.
Bell was also amongst several councillors who were shocked to learn that NWT Construction Ltd. was the only company that responded to the tender.
Senior administrative officer Dennis Kefalas said the city has been trying to find ways to encourage other contractors to bid on its paving projects for some time.
However, NWT Construction Ltd. is currently the only company in the area with an asphalt plant.
Administration presented several options for reducing the cost of the paving contract during Monday's meeting. Despite the price shock, most councillors were in favour of completing all the work this summer because NWT Construction Ltd. has agreed to decrease the cost of its contract by $450,000 if it is awarded in its entirety.
"We can't lose sight of the fact that roads and sidewalks are our priority," said Coun. Niels Konge.
Bell, however, was wary of the "discount" and said he would prefer to re-evaluate the entire contract before moving ahead.
"The fact that there's room for a $450,000 discount, referred to by some councillors as a gift ... that alone should indicate that we need to re-evaluate," he said.
Council will vote on a course of action at an upcoming council meeting.
