A sewer upgrade project in Southwest Calgary that has been causing headaches for drivers and residents has been delayed.
The city is upgrading the sanitary main along 14 Street near 38 Avenue and Sifton Boulevard to replace aging lines and accommodate future development in the former Currie Barracks.
“It’s infrastructure that is approaching end of life. So you want to go in, all across the city and replace it or upgrade it before it reaches end of life,” Ward 11 Councillor Brian Pincott said.
The project has meant traffic detours since September. According to the city, road closures will be required along 14 Street and 38 Avenue near River Park to accommodate the work. To minimize the impacts on traffic, the work will be completed in three phases to allow for detours.
“Lately, this is just been a mess,” Altadore resident Brian Chaisson said. “People ignore stop signs. Because it’s a detour, they think they can just whip around the corners. I’m amazed that there haven’t been more accidents.”
But now there will be more disruption for people who live and drive in the area. Excavators have unexpectedly unearthed half-century old pipes which means more complicated work, likely not completed until mid-December.
“In older neighborhoods, you discover infrastructure under the roadways that you didn’t know was there, or didn’t know exactly where it was until you dug up the road. This has happened before,” Pincott said. “So that adds a lot of time because you have to figure out what those pipes are and where they go and then include them into the project. So that has added on a number of weeks to the disruption.
“That’s the challenge with older neighbourhoods where it predates the reliable tracking of infrastructure systems that we have in place today.”
The Altadore sanitary project is one of around 20 water-related upgrades in the city this year, and all that work will mean increases to your utility bills.
But Councillor Pincott said there are no plans to halt infrastruture spending.
“One of the big things that we are looking for in our budget is how do we use infrastructure projects as an economic stimulus. It would not make sense to delay infrastructure projects. They are good for our economy to have people working,” said Pincott.
In 2014, the city planned to increase water and sewage rates by 8.3 per cent. But in September council voted to reduce the rate hikes.
Water and waste fees will instead go up 2.5 per cent next year and in 2018, while drainage fees will jump by 7.4 per cent for each of the next two years.
In all, the move could save the typical household $88 next year and $190 in 2018.
The lower utility increases were made possible, in part, because of changes to how the city pays for growth. Now developers are billed the full cost of water and wastewater infrastructure in new neighbourhoods.
As for city water-related projects planned for next year, Pincott predicts the budget won’t put an end to them.
“No, definitely not. The budget won’t affect any of the work that we are doing around resiliency and protecting us better from floods.”
“The big project that we are doing is the raising of the Glenmore dam. That project will be complete, I believe, for the spring of 2018,” Pincott said. “Continuing to look at what we do around our river banks to protect our communities more, is something that is not being delayed or contemplated being delayed.”
The city has identified over 200 flood-related projects requiring repairs or restoration.
READ MORE: ‘We’ve waited too long’: Flood cleanup continues in Calgary community, but who’s footing the bill?
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