BONNYVILLE – Despite an unsuccessful grant application, the Town of Bonnyville council has decided to move forward with a noise abatement fence along a section of Highway 41.
The privacy fence will run adjacent to Highway 41, between 51 Avenue and the north lane for 52 Avenue, according to Town administration.
“A small design was completed to navigate the shallow utility congested highway corridor and to cross a Town of Bonnyville owned Public Utility Lot (P.U.L),” Town council heard during their Sept. 12 regular meeting.
The privacy and noise abatement fence is designed to be 10 feet tall and made of wood with steel posts. It will be able to handle increased wind loading and have Mass Loaded Vinyl for noise reduction qualities.
The construction of the fence was included in this year’s capital budget but had to be readjusted after learning last year that a provincial grant application, covering 50 per cent of the project, was unsuccessful.
The municipality received five bids for the project, two of which did not meet the specs sought by the Town. Of the project bids that did meet the requirements, all three came in over the $215,000 set aside for the project.
Coun. David Sharun questioned the vast range of costs projected by contractors, which jumped more than double between the highest and lowest submissions.
Submitted project totals ranged from roughly $225,600 to $477,000 to $552,100.
Town of Bonnyville CAO Bill Rogers suggested the difference of cost could have come down to the time of the year that companies would be able to begin the project. “But all the proponents were provided with engineered drawings as to what we wanted to build. So, they were all working from exactly the same template.”
Council moved forward with administration’s recommendation to award the work to KRW Construction at a cost of $240,550.49, which includes a $15,000 budget for contingency, should it be required.
KRW Construction, which is based out of Pierceland, Sask., is expected to complete the project by the end of this year.
The additional $25,552.49 needed for the fence will come from the General Capital Reserve.
