An important item on the agenda for Weyburn City Council tonight regarding the reconstruction of King Street and Highway 35.
The project is made possible through the Urban Highway Connector Program (UHCP), which is allocating $154,500 for the project, on top of $260,000 budgeted from the city’s Infrastructure Revitalization Program Operating Fund.
Weyburn City Councillor Ryan Janke explains it is important to the project that they have the support of the provincial government.
“The Urban Highway Connector Program allows municipalities to take on the kind of projects that would be extraordinarily difficult to do with only our own tax base. But because it's a provincial highway that links up to it, we share those costs, and now that it's been approved by both Council and the province of Saskatchewan, we can get to work on doing that.”
A request for proposal was posted by the city with three proposals submitted. These proposals were reviewed for errors, omissions, and discrepancies. The project was awarded to Genco Asphalt Inc, who submitted the lowest bid at $2,431,534.40, excluding taxes.
Concerns from the council were addressed by Director of Engineering Renee Cugnet, including the reliability of the company selected. Cugnet advised that Genco Asphalt Inc had done a number of successful projects for the city, alongside providing the lowest bid.
Another concern raised was the construction, which is expected to be completed by the end of September, overlapping with the roundabout construction, resulting in more detours and less efficient travel. Cugnet explained efforts will be made to mitigate effects, including laying out the work so traffic can still pass through and clearly marked detours. Janke echoes these assurances.
“There's an old joke in Saskatchewan that we have two seasons, winter and construction. Unfortunately, we have to make as much of the construction work happen in as short a period of time as we possibly can.”
“We will do our very best to make sure that the detours are well marked, that they're clear and easy to follow, and hopefully we'll have that posted on the website so that if anybody has any questions, they know where to look for it.”
The project will include a full structural rebuild of King Street from First Avenue North to Fifth Avenue North. While on Highway 35, the existing surface will be roto-mixed, and the newly established road crown from Fifth Avenue North to the urban city limits will be repaved.