It’s a major construction overhaul that’s taking several years to complete on one of Peterborough County’s busiest roads, but now there’s another delay in the James A. Gifford Causeway project.
The busy span, that connects Bridgenorth to Ennismore over Chemong Lake, needs extensive repairs to its north shoreline before planned road rehabilitation work can proceed.
At Wednesday’s virtual meeting, Peterborough County council deferred that rehabilitation work until 2023.
A staff report, which recommended the deferral, stated gabion baskets, which are stone-filled wire mesh containers to prevent erosion, have failed due to age “along the full length” of the north shore along the causeway.
“Large scale repairs to the full length of the north shoreline are recommended to be completed in advance of commencing the causeway road improvements so that the road structure is not impacted by the shoreline work,” the report states.
“On this basis, the anticipated causeway road rehabilitation work that has been planned to take place (in) 2022 will need to be deferred until 2023 and would be combined under one contract to include rehabilitation of the Chemong Bridge (on the eastern side of the causeway).
“A smaller scope of repairs had been previously identified but the full extent of damage has recently been identified which requires repair in advance of the road work component of the causeway improvement plan.”
That north shore work would be completed later this year, in the fall and winter months.
How the repairs to the north shore will be completed depends on the location of an existing gas line on that side of the causeway.
Costs to repair the north shore will range from $1.05 million to $1.9 million, depending on where the gas line is.
“If the gas line is inside the causeway guardrail, angular rock fill can be used which is the more cost effective rehabilitation method. If the gas line is on the outside of the guardrail, then a more structurally sound method, preferable using armour stone, will be required,” the report states.
County staff are in the process of determining the gas line location.
There may need to be consultation with the federal department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Curve Lake First Nation, depending on the scope of the north shore work, if it needs to be done “in water” or out.
Upon completion of the repairs, one separate and comprehensive tender will be issued for competitive bidding by contractors to include the rehabilitation of the causeway road surface, construction of a multi-use path, intersection improvements at County Roads 14 and 18 in Bridgenorth, on the eastern end of the causeway and at County Roads 14 and 16 on the western side, and the rehabilitation of the Chemong Bridge — all to take place in 2023.
Overall, the project is estimated to be a little over budget at a low range of $10 million or high range of $12 million. The original budget estimate was just under $9.9 million (excluding HST), according to BT Engineering president Steven Taylor.
The county has received Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) funding of $9.5 million.
In addition to delaying the rehabilitation work until 2023, council supported the recommendation to approve $275,080 plus HST for engineering design, contract administration and inspection services to be performed by BT Engineering and that a single source contract be awarded to Drain Bros. Excavating Ltd. for the north shoreline repairs.
Meanwhile, the construction work along County Road 14 to the west of the causeway will be completed by the middle of the month.
A community meeting is planned with Curve Lake First Nation on June 23 to update the project process.
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