Construction sign on 16th Street East in Owen Sound. (photo by Matt Hermiz)
Owen Sound is moving ahead with further reconstruction of a busy route in the city’s east end.
City council approved a recommendation at its meeting Monday to award a $981,000 contract to E.C. King Contracting for the second phase of the 16th Street East rehabilitation project, which will include the reconstruction of the road and replacement of watermains between 16th and 18th Avenues East.
The contract accepted by the city was the lowest of two compliant bids received.
Owen Sound is approved for a Ministry of Transportation Connecting Links grant for the project, which will fund 90 per cent of the road works portion.
That’s only about $276,000 of the total project cost, according to a report to council.
More than $800,000 of the contract cost is water infrastructure related, and will be funded by water rates.
“What we’re finding this year with our roadway reconstruction projects is that utility oriented portions of the contracts are coming over budget,” the city’s acting director of public works and engineering Mike Crone told councillors. “But, the civil or roadway related (portions) are coming in substantially under budget.”
“…Unfortunately, the MTO funds 90 per cent of the roadway works,” continues Crone. “So in some way, the city will not get the amount of grant funding that the MTO would have provided from the original cost estimate put forth.”
Coun. Scott Greig moved the recommendation: “It’s necessary to be done. It’s unfortunate the water component is that much over. However, this is certainly identified by engineering services as a required replacement.”
Owen Sound completed the $2.2-million first phase of the 16th Street East rehabilitation project in 2020, which included the replacement of watermains, hydrants, sanitary sewers and new sidewalks and road resurfacing between 9th and 16th Avenues East.
The original plan for the project was to re-do 16th Street East between 9th and 18th Avenues East at once, but it was scaled back in 2020 when bids for the work came in higher than anticipated.
The reconstruction of 16th Street East was identified as a priority project in Owen Sound as it serves as a main arterial route, running through a central shopping area in the city and acting as the primary through-way for traffic heading to and from Meaford, The Blue Mountains and Collingwood.