City pushed to OK over-budget bike lanes
Staff say Windsor could lose $417,500 in funding if project doesn’t begin this year
Staff are recommending the city move forward with a project to build bike lanes on South Cameron Boulevard and Malden Road, despite the fact the lowest bid for the job is 55 per cent higher than budgeted.
The project to widen the two roads and install bike lanes will now cost $1.3 million, $463,057 more than originally estimated. A staff report going to council Monday recommends funding the shortfall and starting the project by the end of this month, because any delay would jeopardize a government contribution worth $417,500.
“We risk losing the funding if we don’t get it done this year,” France Isabelle-Tunks, the city’s senior manager of development projects, said Friday.
The work is part of the city’s Bikeways Development project and was supposed to receive 50 per cent funding from the federally funded, provincially administered Public Transit Infrastructure Fund. The pavement would be widened on South Cameron from Totten to Northwood streets and on Malden from the border with LaSalle to Amanda Street. The project has been delayed by the completion of environmental studies, including a species at risk survey.
By the time a tender was issued, it was getting late in the construction season, with many companies already busy with jobs and hurrying to finish them before the asphalt plants close for the season, Isabelle-Tunks said. Only two firms submitted bids: Amico Infrastructure for $1.54 million and Coco Paving for $1.12 million. When additional costs are added to Coco’s construction bid, the total price is $1.3 million.
Josette Eugeni, the city’s manager of transportation planning, described the project as a nice opportunity to add some cycling facilities that would link up with LaSalle’s cycling infrastructure and provide bike lanes for commuters and people wishing to get to various destinations, including Malden Park.
In the last month, the city has been hit with several similar tendering scenarios, where bids have come in much higher than budgeted due to the busy construction climate.
The staff report suggests funding the shortfall largely with funds earmarked for bike lanes on Cabana Road in 2020. That money’s no longer needed because the city received funding from the Ontario Municipal Cycling Infrastructure Program.
If the work starts after Dec. 31, the city would also have to conduct a new species at risk survey at a cost of $15,000.
The staff report says “it is imperative that this project proceeds at this time,” to keep the $417,500 government funding and avoid paying for another species at risk survey.