Getting its tenders out early has saved Grey County some money on a pair of road reconstruction projects.
At its meeting on March 23, county council approved a pair of reports to award tenders for the reconstruction of county roads 7 and 18 to Walker Construction Grey Bruce. The county road 7 price came in at $7,503,831.95 (including HST), which was under the projected budget of $8,201,400. The price for county road 18 was $6,147,780.88 (including HST), which was under the projected budget of $7,175,600. Each amount includes a 15 per cent contingency and both projects will be partially funded through county development charges as they are growth related.
Director of Transportation Services Pat Hoy told council getting the tenders out early to the bidders helped the county get good pricing on the two jobs.
“Both were out very early,” said Hoy, who said the construction window for the two projects is May 15 to August 15. “They’re really big earth jobs, there’s lots of work.”
Owen Sound Deputy Mayor Scott Greig praised county staff for their work in securing the below-budget prices.
“These are excellent results,” said Greig. “This is excellent news. Staff did a great job.”
County Road 7 in Grey Highlands and Meaford will be rebuilt in the Epping and Griersville areas. A 3.8 kilometre section near Griersville will be reconstructed and a 6.6 kilometre section near Epping will be rebuilt. The project includes: 3.5 metre lanes with 1.25 metre paved shoulders, culvert replacements and guiderail replacements.
On county road 18, a total of 8.3 kilometres of the road in Meaford will be reconstructed from County Road 11 to County Road 29. The work includes: 3.50 metre lanes with 1.25 metre paved shoulders, grade raised through Bognor Marsh Swamp to address road flooding issues, culvert replacements, guiderail replacement and parking lot construction adjacent to rail trail off Grey Road 18.
Four bids were received for the County Road 7 project ranging in price from just over $6.4 million to just over $9 million (not including HST). Three bids were received for the county road 18 project ranging from just over $5.2 million to just over $6.6 million (not including HST).
