An $8.7-million rehabilitation project for Dufferin Avenue in Wallaceburg is up for approval.
Municipality of Chatham-Kent Council is set to vote at their Monday, May 8, 2023 meeting on a staff recommendation to award a tender in the amount of $8,747,892.86 to Birnam Excavating Ltd.
“Construction is planned to begin in June 2023 and be completed by November 2023, with restoration works completed in Spring 2024,” said Brendan Falkner, manager of engineering, in a staff report.
“Two lanes of traffic on Dufferin Avenue and access to all properties and business will be maintained at all times throughout construction.”
Falkner said the project consists of the rehabilitation of Dufferin Avenue from McNaughton Avenue to the west limits of Wallaceburg, 75 m west of Walnut Drive, including:
– Replacement of watermain, including water services and fire hydrants, from Arnold Street to west limits and watermain improvements at the intersection of Dufferin Avenue and McNaughton Avenue
– Installation of new storm sewer from Dauw Avenue to Arnold Street for future storm expansion on Arnold Street
– Full replacement of curb from Arnold Street to west limits and partial curb replacement of curb from Arnold Street to McNaughton Avenue
– Rehabilitation of catch basins and maintenance holes
– New sidewalk on north side of Dufferin Avenue from Bruinsma Avenue to west limits, and partial replacement of sidewalk throughout the site based on condition
– Traffic signal and intersection improvements
– Pavement rehabilitation using cold-in-place recycling
– Boulevard grading and restoration in all areas affected by construction
Falkner said Chatham-Kent entered a successful Connecting Links application last year and the Province will be allocating $3-million toward the project.
“The Ministry of Transportation’s Connecting Links Program assists municipalities with repairing designated municipal roadways and bridges that connect two ends of a provincial highway through a community or to a border crossing,” he said in a report.
“There are 77 Ontario municipalities eligible to apply for funding. The maximum amount of funding available is up to 90% of eligible project costs or $3-million per road project (whichever is lower) and up to $5-million for bridge projects. The applicant is required to contribute the remaining 10% of eligible project costs and pay for all ineligible project costs.”
Falkner said the Dufferin project was submitted unsuccessfully to the Connecting Links Program in 2017-18 and 2021-22.
Falkner added the MTO’s Connecting Links Program funding of $3-million was previously utilized to fund $510,000 of the Consulting Engineering Services on July 11, 2022 and the remainder has been allocated to this tender award.
“Due to contributing factors resulting from inflation, supply and demand pressures and various changes in construction regulations, the construction industry is experiencing an overall increase in costs for goods and services,” Falkner said in his report.
“This is reflected in the unit prices that are being submitted and resulted in an overall increase for this tender as compared to similar tenders issued in 2022.”
Read the full report, here.
Monday’s meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Civic Centre in Chatham.
