ARDMORE – There’s still a long way to go on road construction in Ardmore.
A report was presented to MD of Bonnyville council outlining the remaining surface and subsurface work that could be included in the 2021 budget.
“From 2013 to 2019, ongoing infrastructure upgrades were undertaken by the MD and the main works were to convert (the hamlet) from rural hamlet to an urban standard hamlet,” general manager of infrastructure services Abid Malik told council during their Sept. 2 committee meeting.
There are five locations where work could take place, including main street, the east and west side of 48th Ave., 47th Ave., and looping a water main connection at the east end of 47th Ave. and 48th Ave. The preliminary estimated costs of all of the projects rang in at roughly $10.8-million. It includes planning the life cycle replacement of existing sanitary and water mains, upgrading storm infrastructure from rural to urban standards, eliminating open ditches, new asphalt, curbs and sidewalks where required, and improving the performance of existing systems that are looping waterlines.
While most of the underground infrastructure in Ardmore has been upgraded since 2013, 50th St., also known as main street, is the last portion to be done.
Renewing infrastructure, such as buried utilities, asphalt, and curbs and sidewalks, along with servicing all lots and eliminating ditches were estimated to cost roughly $4.6-million.
Main street in Ardmore is also considered part of the provincial highway system.
“It’s also linked with Alberta Transportation’s rehabilitation of the road,” noted Malik. “We thought that we should do the underground work and then the top paving will be done by Alberta Transportation or we will do it in conjunction with them.”
According to Coun. Dana Swigart, council has discussed having work done on 50th St. in the past with the provincial government.
“We were actually going to wait for the province to pave main street first because they’ve had it on their plan for a couple of years to pave the highway through Ardmore,” he recalled.
Malik said the province has the project set to be started in 2022 but “are flexible.”
“Due to the current fiscal situation, if we’re not ready by 2022 they can consider bumping it.”
Eliminating the ditches on the east and west side of 48th Ave., along with adding curbs and catch basins was also discussed.
Construction on the east side of 48th Ave. is anticipated to come in around $618,000, while the west side is estimated at roughly $642,200. Both of these would be bringing them to urban standards.
It was these three projects that Swigart saw as priorities.
“If you’re going to do one, you’ve got to do the others. Otherwise, it’s going to cost you way too much later.”
Coun. Marc Jubinville agreed, “You’d still end up with something that’s not complete, so let’s look at that, start there, and see.”
For the work on 47th Ave., Malik presented two options to council to pave the stretch of road, deal with the drainage issues at the Municorr trail, and remove the open ditches.
The first option came in at $1.5-million, which would focus on the ditch and culvert improvements only. The second option is priced around $4.1-million but would see the entire area brought to urban standards. Malik said their consultants recommended to go with the second option in order to address all of the issues.
The final project discussed was the water main connection at the east end of 47th Ave. and 48th Ave., which had a price tag of roughly $822,000.
This would create a loop of the waterlines and would provide better quality water to the residents of Ardmore.
“It should be looped to be a controlled system where no flushing is required but, right now without looping, they’re carrying on,” noted Malik.
Road construction in Ardmore has been a constant since 2013. The six-phased project has totalled around $18-million since then, and has seen most of the hamlet’s underground infrastructure completed or upgraded.
Council accepted the presentation as information and will discuss which projects should go ahead during budget deliberations.
