Grey County has received both good news and bad news on a pair of significant road projects.
At its meeting on April 13, county council approved two staff reports recommending awarding tenders for two major road projects. The first will see two county roads in The Blue Mountains and Grey Highlands get repaved and the second will see a turning lane constructed in front of the new super-school in Meaford.
One project tender came in over budget, while the other was under budget.
The first project will see the resurfacing of 19.5 km of Grey Road 2 from Grey Road 31 to Grey Road 19 and Grey Road 19 from Grey Road 2 to The Blue Mountains/Clearview townline.
The tender for the project was awarded to E.C King Contracting for $4,170,597.23 including HST and a 10 per cent contingency. The project was over budget by $676,097.23. County staff told council they would make up the deficit using any 2023 budget surplus or a general reserve account.
Pat Hoy, director of transportation services for the county, said the project would see a second lift of asphalt applied to the roads. He said the paving project is part of the county’s asset management plan goal of “keeping good roads good.”
Hoy noted that the county received four bids on the job and three of the bids had come in within $60,000 of each other. Hoy also noted that the county had realized savings on projects council had previously approved.
“As a whole, it’s been good. It was a really good tender package. We’re ready to award it,” he said.
The second project will see the county work with the Municipality of Meaford and the Bluewater District School Board to construct a turning lane on Grey Road 7 in front of Georgian Bay Community School in Meaford. The tender for this project was issued on behalf of the county by Meaford. The county’s share came in at $2,043,021.12, which was under budget by $592,178.88 or 22.5 per cent.
The tender was awarded to Arnill Construction Limited at a total cost of $2,481,827.14. The school board is contributing $47,000 to the project. Meaford is paying 34 per cent of the project.
In addition to the left-hand turn lane the project includes: upgrading the road to a combination of both an urban and rural cross section which includes the reconstruction of the roadbed, new curbs and gutters, addition of paved shoulders and storm sewer infrastructure replacements. As part of the project, Meaford will be upgrading its water main infrastructure from a 100 mm mainline to a new 250 mm mainline to better service residents.
Hoy told county council the new school in Meaford has resulted in an increase in traffic on Grey Road 7 and he thanked Meaford for their work on the project.
“They did a lot of the heavy lifting,” he said.
The construction timeline for the project is July 4 to September 1. Hoy said the goal is to get the work done when the school is on summer break.
“It’s a pretty tight window. We’ll be pushing the contractor and Meaford will be as well,” he said.
The county will be using development charges funds for a portion of the project as it is growth related.
