THUNDER BAY – The long-awaited repairs to the Boulevard Lake Dam could begin as early as 2019, despite some dollars earmarked for the project being used on a major infrastructure improvement this year.
City administration on Monday night reaffirmed their support for the rehabilitation, while recommending more than $1.1 million from the project’s carry forward funding be diverted to offset cost increases to fix the Main Street Bridge.
City engineering director Kayla Dixon made it clear the appropriation of funds doesn’t mean the dam project has been shelved.
“This is our No. 1 priority,” Dixon said. “We know we allocate funds as necessary to make sure this work gets done. Once we get that (environmental assessment) in hand this becomes the work we’re focused on in 2019.”
In recent years the project has been stalled by the ongoing environmental assessment process, which is still yet to be completed.
Dixon said work on the dam could begin next year if the environmental assessment is approved this year, leading to detailed design and construction on the two-year project potentially beginning in 2019.
Coun. Andrew Foulds, who represents the Current River ward where the dam is located, said he was quite upset that the money to pay for the bridge was coming out of funds that had been previously set aside for the dam.
“We’ve put this off in excess of five years. We now have to go through the environmental assessment,” Foulds said. “Putting this project off is not acceptable any longer.”
The century-old dam, which is 700 metres upstream from where the Current River flows into Lake Superior, has been identified by an engineering assessment to have suffered concrete deterioration. As well, its structural strength has been deemed insufficient to meet Lakes and Rivers Improvement Act requirements to handle floodwaters from a regulatory storm.
Foulds said money has been spent trying to advance the project.
“It’s hundreds of thousands of dollars to go through that environmental assessment and we’re still looking at a dam that’s falling apart,” Foulds said.
Council voted to award the contract to rehabilitate the Main Street Bridge, a two-year project to upgrade the Intercity area span.
This year’s budget allocated $4.2 million for the bridge and the pre-tender estimate was revised to $4.7 million but the total cost to the city has been recalculated at $5.3 million.
Restraints on the contractor for when work can be completed and requirements to keep the bridge open during specific times in order to continue to allow heavy loads, particularly cargo deliveries received by the Thunder Bay Port Authority, to continue to cross the span during the shipping season are expected to be factors in the higher bids.
While there is no imminent risk that requires the structure to be repaired immediately, waiting will only drive up the eventual price tag, Dixon warned.
“The issue with delaying rehabilitation means that more rehabilitation needs to be done the following year,” Dixon said. “Costs will continue to rise and the work scope continues to rise as we do not do these rehabilitation projects.”
