BARRY’S BAY – Motorists will be happy to learn that construction work on the Opeongo Line has halted for the busy summer season.
Jason Ward from WSP Canada Inc. provided an update on the construction at the June 30 operations committee meeting.
“The construction went very well,” he said. “They have basically exceeded what the original schedule had shown for the time, due to the watermain break and a few other things that came up through the construction.”
He noted that the contractor was given a one-week extension, after the watermain break set work behind schedule by two weeks.
Ward explained at the meeting that there was still some work to be completed by the end of that week, including line painting at the new Sandhill/Tim Hortons left-hand turning lane.
“By the end of this week, everything will be the way that it should be for the summer,” he said. “Everything is on schedule.”
Ward explained that the project is nearing its budget, and to date, the total is $959,976.
“We added additional sidewalk and interlocking stone in the downtown area and in front of Zurakowski Park,” he said. “So that was an additional $47,000. We added the cobblestone corners at the corner of Highway 62 and Opeongo Road and Dunn Street as well.”
He said the costs of the watermain break will remain separate.
“That wasn’t part of the original contract, we had no intention of actually doing that, but when we are in there, I think it was a great plan to do it,” he said. “We went down further to provide a better base, since we took out half of the road already, and we added Geotextile and Geogrid to stabilize a couple of soft spots that was there. The main line had a lot of clay and silt in the base.”
The total cost to replace the line was around $103,000.
Ward said that the $958.785.11 is very close to the money granted for the project.
“At this point, anything we add to the contract will pretty much be 100 per cent paid for by the township, if it goes above the granted amount,” he explained.
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