THUNDER BAY — Companies interested in bidding on the job to replace twin culverts on McVicar Creek have about two weeks to put their cost estimates together.
The City of Thunder Bay arranged for a mandatory contractors' visit on Monday to the site on River Street where a sinkhole developed above one of the culverts on May 5.
The four-lane road has been closed in both directions in that block ever since, and may or may not reopen this year.
"We just went out for tender last week, so we expect bids in about mid-September now and to kind of get things rolling. Today was the first day they could come take a look at the site and ask any questions that came up for their first review of the contract documents," said city project engineer Mike Vogrig.
There's no firm timeline for the completion of repairs and the reopening of the four-lane road.
Vogrig said the city is doing what it can to speed up the process.
"We pre-ordered a bunch of materials before we went for tender, so those are currently being fabricated and shipped. We hope to have some of that stuff ready when the tender closes and the contractor can start."
He said a structural multi-plate metal arch is the most important and largest component of the repair job.
The arch will replace both the existing 15-foot culverts and will be mounted on concrete footings.
The delivery time for the arch is projected to be four to six weeks.
"If that timeline holds out, we should be OK," Vogrig said.
But whether River Street is reopened this year will likely depend on weather conditions this fall.
He said "We're going to do our best, but maybe we'll only be able to get the culvert installed and get the top of the structure backfilled. I can't make any promises, but if the weather holds out, we'll try to push it to get as much as we can done this year."
After the bottom of one of the twin culverts collapsed this spring– allowing fill to infiltrate – the culvert shifted and rotated.
City officials initially thought they might be able to repair it by installing a lining inside the existing structure, but further inspections ruled that out as the culvert had shifted even more.
City council has approved $2.5 million for the replacement of the culverts.
The new structure will have a lifespan of about 75 years.
