Construction on 51 Ave. in Bonnyville isn't going as smoothly as local officials had hoped.
“The engineer, on our behalf, has been sending one letter per week to the contractor expressing our disappointment in the progress they're making, and making suggestions on things that they could possibly be considering to speed up the process,” Town of Bonnyville CAO Mark Power explained to council on Sept. 27. “They finally, as of (the end of September), acknowledged that they didn't feel it's going to be possible to get the entire 51 Ave. done by the Oct. 15 deadline.”
Work on the section of 51 Ave. from 50 St. to 55 St. began at the start of the summer, after the $4.4 million bid for the project was awarded to Kichton Contracting in late June.
In an effort to avoid the headaches that came with last summer's 51 Ave. redevelopment, prior to breaking ground the town hosted an open house for business owners and residents along the street to get their questions answered by the contractor and engineer.
Penalties were also set out for work done after the Oct. 15 deadline.
“Personally, I'm a little frustrated in terms of the slower progress than what we had envisioned and what we had asked and required of the construction contractors,” said Bonnyville Mayor Gene Sobolewski. “We put these penalty clauses in place and worked with the contractor in terms of our consultant and providing different ideas. I had sent different people out who had equipment and labour to try and work something out to expedite the process. The bottom line is we're pretty frustrated at council.”
The frustration expressed by town council is shared by some of the businesses along that stretch of road.
“It's been stressful with them taking longer then what they initially told us... It's been a hard few months down this road,” said Jennie Hamel, owner of Jennie's Diner on the corner of 51 Ave. and 51 St.
Hamel was one of the business owners in attendance at the open house prior to the project's start. Over the course of the construction, she has seen a definite impact on her business. Now, with the delay in the completion of the street, that impact is only getting worse.
“I've actually had people tell me that they didn't know how to get here, because the back alley is not an easy-in back alley. I've had them tell me that they weren't sure how to get here so they just didn't come.”
Hamel added, “I think their intentions were really good, but I'm not sure what's happened the last couple of weeks. It's gone array. They kept telling us ‘in two weeks we'll be done', ‘in three weeks we'll be done' and now it's been four weeks.”
However, that stress wasn't felt by all businesses along the street. Toy Brand, owner of Le Papillon, said construction this summer was “hands down better than it was last year” and, overall, she was pleased with the professionalism of the company.
“I think they've done really well. I've only had to shut my door a few time and they work sometimes till eight or nine at night and on weekends... They have continually updated me throughout the process and they mad a point to meet with the business owners ahead of time.”
Brand continued, “They've made temporary sidewalks for me throughout the whole time to accommodate my business, and they waited for my sidewalk until the very end.”
To keep the flow of traffic moving better than last year, the project was broken up into blocks. According to Power, they're anticipating blocks one, three and five to be completed. However, due to a lack of time left, the contractor was instructed not to open up blocks two and four for risk of them being stuck unfinished over winter. This means crews will be back next summer to finish up that section of 51 Ave.
“They do have two crews in town now... So they're making better time but there's only a month of construction, if we're lucky, left,” said Power, who noted that, while it hasn't been formally discussed yet, the hope is the two back alleys will be done this season still.
“(Next summer) they'll do blocks two and four simultaneously I'm guessing. That should be a high priority because of the penalties kicking in. The penalties are in effect for every day they're on site.”
While displeased with the way construction on 51 Ave. has gone this season, Sobolewski explained there's not much more council could have done to prevent the issues.
“We're fairly limited by the types of contracts. We've got penalties that are going to take place by the 15th of the month, and that's pretty much all we can do because there are certain limitations in terms of how we draft up these contracts.”
He added, “We hope that when the penalties kick in, that will be more incentive to get that thing done.”
Regardless, businesses and residents in that area can expect another season of construction next summer.
