The city won’t be receiving new provincial dollars to cover the cost of the first phase of the Golf Links Road Junot Avenue improvement project.
Council is expected to vote at Monday’s meeting to move ahead with the multi-million dollar project. A passing vote would award the contract to Taranis Contracting Group.
The company came in with the lowest bid of about $6.8 million although the amount is considered an estimate and final payment will be based on the finished work.
The widening of the busy city streets could be funded through the Renew Thunder Bay strategic infrastructure initiative. Portions of that fund were earmarked for the Golf Links/Junot project as well as the proposed events centre.
About $3.5 million was committed in the 2012 Budget for the first phase plus $3.2 million will be available by the end of 2013. The city also received more than $10 million from the province in 2008, which is being recommended to be used for the project.
Neebing ward Coun. Linda Rydholm said roads are an important part of attracting new businesses to the city.
“I’m really pleased that we’re developing the Golf Links/ Junot corridor,” she said. “We’ve been told that the provincial and federal funds have already been allocated. To get started on a part of the road I think it is appropriate that we use $7 million, which is a part of the $10 million given to us by the province.”
At-Large Coun. Larry Hebert said there’s many options for funding the project including taking it completely from Renew Thunder Bay.
But Hebert would prefer the city use the entire amount given by the province instead of using municipal dollars.
“I think that will satisfy [the provincial government] that we are spending it on infrastructure,” he said. “This is an important corridor. I think it will be busier than the expressway especially when it gets fully completed.”
He added that the federal budget didn’t have any funding for the project this year but there will be dollars available next year.
Current River Coun. Andrew Foulds voiced his disappointment in the province and federal government for not providing additional funding. He said he look forward to the discussion on Monday on how the city plans to fund the project.
“It appears that we’re going to be using all of Renew Thunder Bay funding,” he said.
“The premise of that reserve fund was to leverage both the provincial and federal governments for legacy projects. This is a legacy project. It’s not like the event centre. I’m disappointed the province and the feds aren’t coming to the table and that they don’t see the value of this arterial.”
While some councillors believe the project has been too slow to get started, Foulds said he wished council made sure they got everything they wanted before moving forward.
Foulds suggested back in January to push back the tender in order to look at the addition of designated bike lanes.
The majority of council voted against the resolution.
“I continue to be not pleased that there aren’t dedicated bike lanes on this total reconstruction,” he said.
“We need a north – south bicycle commuter route. We don’t have one. This was an opportunity to do that. At the end of the day I guess I would have liked to see the complete street model adhere to. This was a chance to really build our flagship thoroughfare”
Despite no dedicated bike lanes, Foulds praised the plan has having good improvements to the roadway.
