Widening a winding stretch of road close to the seashore ended up costing the city more than anticipated.
City staff reported to council at a finance and audit meeting Wednesday that the Hammond Bay road-widening project, completed in May, came in $150,000 over budget.
The project improved street and underground infrastructure and involved slope stabilization between Prince John Way and Stephenson Point Road.
General manager of public works and engineering Bill Sims told council that the city didn’t receive any bids when the project was first put to tender, and needed to increase the project budget at that time, too. The original budget was $2.07 million and then $256,700 was added prior to the construction phase, a staff report notes.
Sims said workers found a lack of gravel under the road, and said they also had to deal with a slope failure on Department of Fisheries and Oceans property and adjustments to traffic control. The report says the additional $150,000 needed “can be found within existing budgets” in the financial plan.
Mayor Leonard Krog said he’s familiar with the stretch of road and what he called “unavoidable” challenges.
“I can be hard-pressed to think of a more difficult place to do work, especially considering the volume of traffic that flows down Hammond Bay Road every day,” he said.
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