THUNDER BAY – The final phases of a major reconstruction of Balmoral Street are being put on hold as the city awaits word on close to $1 million in federal-provincial funding.
The work, projected to cost the city just over $8 million, involves rebuilding Balmoral from Alloy Drive to Beverly Street, adding multi-use trails and storm sewers on both sides.
It’s the final phase of a reconstruction of Balmoral the city began in 2016, when it rebuilt the roadway from William to Hewitson streets. The second phase of the project, completed in 2020, rebuilt the intersection at the Harbour Expressway and extended to Alloy.
The entire project was originally supposed to take three years but faced various delays, including for budgetary reasons.
However, director of engineering and operations Kayla Dixon said she’s confident the remaining work will be done this year.
The project is crucial not only because Balmoral is a high-traffic thoroughfare, she said, but also because it will provide important new walking and cycling connections.
“It’s a really important link for our active transportation network,” she said. “This is going to end up providing multi-use trails basically from Oliver Road down to Moodie Street.”
The project will also provide new active transportation links to city bus stops, making it potentially eligible to receive funds through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP).
The city is still awaiting an answer on whether it will be approved for that funding, which amounts to around $700,000 for the Balmoral reconstruction, Dixon estimated.
There’s no official timeline for when the funding will be confirmed, but she said there are encouraging signs.
“The mayor has made some calls into our MPs, and it does seem like that’s provided some movement. We’re starting to get questions on our application, so that’s a good sign.”
The city is in the same boat as other municipalities that applied for ICIP funds and are still waiting for answers, she said.
Still, she expressed confidence that no matter the outcome, the project is set to go ahead.
“The city would look to fund this this year,” she said. “We’re really hoping we can leverage the provincial and federal funding, but if we absolutely need to, I think we’d look to other areas of our budget to try to find something.”
City council was originally set to consider awarding a contract for the work on May 2 to Bruno’s Contracting, which submitted the lowest among three tenders, at $8.29 million.
That vote has now been delayed until at least June 6.
The work is expected to cost the city roughly $8.2 million, including an HST rebate and a $450,000 allowance for Synergy North to conduct pole relocation
That beats the city’s pre-tender engineering estimate of roughly $10 million, helping to blunt the impact of millions in cost overruns on other infrastructure contracts this year, attributed largely to global price increases.
When the work does begin, Balmoral is expected to remain open in a single lane in each direction, with any full closures limited in duration.
