THUNDER BAY — After almost a year and a half, River Street is fully open to traffic, though the project has come in over budget.
The roadway was reopened between Algoma and Peter streets on Monday, after being closed since May 2022 following a culvert failure.
With the numerous delays, the budget was originally pegged at $2.5 million, with a 10 per cent contingency in place for increased costs, however, the extensive delays have eaten at that plan.
City project engineer Mike Vogrig said the total cost of the culvert repair has come in eight to 10 per cent higher than what was anticipated, putting the project $200,000 to $250,000 over budget.
"[We] underestimated the amount of time it would take to complete the work. When things were moving smoothly, we figured things would continue to move smoothly, but we obviously ran into some delays," Vogrig said.
Vogrig said the pavement wasn't supposed to be finished until Wednesday this week. Since the contractors have finished their work, city crews are out on street sweepers preparing the road to be painted. The road painting isn't expected to cause any major delays, Vogrig added.
