A new price tag for the ongoing Red Hill Valley Parkway inquiry is set to cost Hamilton about three times what was set aside by council some three years ago, according to city solicitors.
So far the city has incurred about $25.5 million in fees associated with the inquiry and is set to hit $28 million after additional legal, data storage, web maintenance and publication fees are added.
The analysis and presentation of key findings, initially expected in early fall 2023, likely will be released in November.
Last August, legal staff asked councillors to approve a revised estimate of between $26 and $28 million plus additional disbursement costs for the hearings.
At the time, former mayor Fred Eisenberger appeared to show some buyer’s remorse during an update, submitting to a general issues committee he had regrets about supporting the review amid the rising costs.
“If I knew then what I know now, would I have decided to follow through on a judicial review? I think most of us would probably answer no,” Eisenberger said.
Then city legal counsel Eli Lederman told councillors the additional costs are attributed to “a number of different factors,” including a late start and rescheduling of several witnesses.
The Red Hill Valley Parkway Inquiry (RHVPI) is centred around a 2013 city staff report on the surface of the roadway — a document that was allegedly buried for six years.
The study suggested remedial action due to friction levels in some areas of the roadway being below safety standards.
City council was briefed about the existence of the report in January 2019, after which it voted to request a judicial inquiry.
Since the opening of the parkway in 2007, a number of crash victims and families of victims have argued improper design and maintenance over the years has led to numerous incidents.
The city spent $8.5 million on an emergency resurfacing of the parkway in 2019.