Several road construction and utility projects slated for 2014 have gone over budget and require over $1 million in additional funding to be completed.
The South Canmore road rehabilitation program and two sewer line pump replacements at lift stations started last year have had unexpected circumstances, resulting in the need for council to increase budgets and change scopes, according to administration.
Manager of engineering Andy Esarte explained at Tuesday’s (March 17) council meeting that four separate capital budget items to replace utility infrastructure and pave roads in south Canmore were taken on by one general contractor.
“These projects were combined by our department into a larger project to take advantage of proximities of scale and allow close coordination of interrelated work,” Esarte said. “The tender came in on budget and had a contingency that typically would be sufficient for a contract of this sort.”
The four projects in the capital budget to replace underground utility works and repair and repave several streets totaled $2.7 million, but when crews got into the ground last spring they discovered the work was not going to be as easy as originally planned.
“A number of challenges were encountered in the project,” Esarte said. “A number of compounding issues, largely due to unforeseen underground conditions, require additional infrastructure, design and methodology.”
The additional work that has not been completed requires $1.1 million, with a portion covered by contingency funds included in the overall budget and $810,000 from the utility reserve.
Municipal engineer Blair Birch said a thorough debrief of the project’s hiccups was done with the consultant and Epcor and a recommendation was to conduct more thorough engineering investigation before going into the ground.
“If we stepped back and took more time to do the engineering work in 2014, for example, more investigative work could have identified it ahead of time,” Birch said. “The costs would still be incurred, but it wouldn’t be a surprise.
“When you are dealing with old infrastructure it is worthwhile to do more investigation up front.”
Manager of public works Andreas Comeau explained additional scope is needed, and dollars, for upgrades to lift station number one and a pump upgrade at the wastewater treatment plant. The additional funds needed to complete the work is $187,000 for a revised budget of $1.1 million.
The change to the projects, Comeau said, is to replace two cranes used to move the pumps.
“If the pumps need to be put in place, removed for service and cleaned out, which happens a lot at this lift station due to wipes, the crane is required to get the pumps in and out,” he said.
During the project it was discovered the crane at lift station one in South Canmore and at the treatment plant were either undersized for the work or failed a load test.
“That is an upgrade we are looking to do that we were not aware of when we began the work,” Comeau said.
The added budget came from the utility reserve and $95,000 of unspent budget for the treatment plant pump upgrade. Comeau said the utility reserve is expected to be at $1.1 million by the end of the year.
