THUNDER BAY — The City of Thunder Bay will likely defer a couple of capital projects planned for this year because of increased costs related to the construction of a new roundabout on Cumberland Street.
"This project has kind of changed from a road resurfacing to a road reconstruction project," said Aaron Ward, manager of engineering.
In an interview Wednesday, he explained that the budget approved last year for installing a roundabout at Cumberland and Water Streets, replacing a watermain, and resurfacing Cumberland from the roundabout to Tupper Street was about $2.6 million.
But during the project design process, the city found the condition of a sanitary sewer was much worse than had been assumed.
"There wasn't any budget to actually replace the sewer. There's four blocks that we now have to replace that weren't envisioned. Since we're doing all the underground work now because a watermain was already included, now we're doing the sanitary sewer as well."
The project has also been upgraded to include a streetscape component with sidewalk replacements, bumpouts and landscaping.
"With road reconstruction, there's an opportunity to do the streetscaping too, because with the replacement of the underground components, we're not going to be back here for a long time. We want to ensure we rebuild the whole road so it's not only half-done," Ward said.
The additional work has increased the cost of the project.
Nadin Contracting submitted the lowest of four bids at $3.75 million, or about $1.15 million more than what was originally approved.
To make up for the shortfall, city administration is recommending the reconstruction of Luci Court and some underground work on Yonge Street be deferred to 2026.
Ward said if city council approves the strategy at its meeting on Monday, work will begin in May, with expected completion in October.
"What's worked out well for this project is that Nadin are the ones who are also involved in the Court Street/Red River Road reconstruction, and they're just finishing up some work there for the streetscape interlock above-ground works. They want to move straight from there to Cumberland, so it's a great synergy for them to move from that project a few blocks north to get things rolling."
Reconstruction of the section of Cumberland between Tupper Street and Red River Road is expected to take place in 2026.
