Work is almost ready to begin on reconstructing the Canadian Pacific Kansas City railway bridge on Dundas Street East in Waterdown— but the project will cost $3-million more than its initial estimate.
In a city report presented to the Public Works Committee, staff says the project is 95 per cent ready and they will be looking for a contractor soon to take on the project.
When work begins, the bridge will be demolished and rebuilt in sections.
City director of engineering Jackie Kennedy previously told FlamboroughToday half of the bridge will be demolished, while the other half will be open for traffic. When completed, Dundas Street East and its bridge will have a new multi-use path and upgrades to its water main and sewer and storm sewer system.
Work is set to begin in 2025 and finish in 2026 and will mean extensive construction from Mill Street to Reynold Street.
The city started looking into separating utilities from the bridge in 2016, and decided top build a second bridge just for utilities like water pipes parallel to the foot and traffic bridge on Dundas Street East. The project hit a roadblock in 2020, when the city discovered it would need to purchase property to build the second bridge.
According to the city report, the person who owned the land that was needed was not willing to sell, and was concerned that the project would damage and remove mature trees on their land.
By 2022, AtkinsRéalis Canada Inc. assessed that the project could be completed with one bridge, but that solution would raise the overall cost of the project from an estimated $12 million to around $15 million. The new estimated cost includes additional fees for site issues, utility relocation and the addition of a retaining wall.
At the Public Works Committee meeting Monday, Coun. Ted McMeekin acknowledged that closing down half of an arterial road, at a time where there are several major road infrastructure projects in the works in Waterdown, isn't ideal.
"Of all the infrastructure projects in the ward, this is probably the one that has been not moved on as quickly as it should have," McMeekin said.
He shared concerns that traffic will only flow in one direction for portions of the two-year construction on a road that is incredibly busy, and that without the Waterdown Bypass, traffic will have to reroute through the Mountainview Heights Neighbourhood to Waterdown Road.
"God help you if there's a problem on the highway," he said.
The report was accepted and will move to council on Nov. 27.
