Owen Sound's new 10th Street Bridge remains on track to be complete and open to traffic by December 2020, barring any unexpected setbacks in the coming months.
“As long as we don't run into any major issues, we should still be able to make that date,” says Owen Sound's Director of Public Works and Engineering Dennis Kefalas, who gave an update on the project at city council's May 25 meeting.
Work on the 10th Street Bridge has continued throughout the pandemic as key infrastructure construction projects were never considered non-essential by the Ontario government.
Kefalas says piling is complete on the west side of the bridge, and crews are now focused on the east side. Form work and tying rebar is also ongoing as part of the bridge abutment construction.
He expects the concrete foundation that forms the base of the bridge to be complete within the next four to six weeks, and then the installation of the new girders will commence.
Water main will also start being laid down on 2nd Avenue in the coming weeks in anticipation of installing it across the bridge, Kefalas says.
Kefalas says the project is still on budget “right now”. The tender price for the bridge construction approved by council in July 2019 was $8.68-million. The entire project is expected to cost around $9.3-million when factoring in other expenses such as consulting and engineering costs, according to a past Bayshore Broadcasting report.
Kefalas notes there was a large amount of contaminated soil to deal with when the old bridge piles were excavated, which will have a “significant” impact on the contingency fund.
“We should know within the next two-to-three weeks to see where we are with the contingency on the project, but all the other aspects are on budget,” Kefalas explains.
The 10th Street Bridge was built in 1911 and serves as the main connecting link across the Sydenham River for provincial highways 6, 10, 21 and 26.
The project must be complete by March 31, 2021 for the city to maintain eligibility for a $3-million grant from the province's Connecting Links program.