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Jasper’s pedestrians will be left waiting in the cold this winter as construction to the Hazel Avenue underpass will take longer than expected.
Although construction has commenced, Ken Quackenbush, director of environmental services, told Council last Tuesday Sept 6, that work will come to a halt before the winter and then begin again “first thing in the spring.”
It was simply taking contractors too long to install the bridge piles in the time Canadian National Railways (CN) had allotted the municipality, he explained.
According to Quackenbush, the three hour allotments do not mean trains come to a complete stop, but instead that one track will not be used during that time. Thus, he expects trains are passing during the work about 40 per cent of the time.
“We can’t get the piles in during the window they’re giving us,” explained Quackenbush. The bridge piles, which originally CN said must be 22 metres long were taking too long to install, due in part to the hard ground of Jasper.
To counter this problem, a new agreement has been forged with CN so that piles can now be 17 metres in length. That means it won’t take contractors as long to install.
As a slight redesign will be needed, there will be an extra two per cent added to the cost of the project. However, Quackenbush said that, as they were charged per metre for the piles, and now less piles are needed, there will also be a cost saving.
“There will be additional money needed for the redesign mainly, but that will be offset slightly,” he said.
A new agreement has also been struck, so that CN will allow an eight hour block which means workers have six hours to complete the work.
Mayor Richard Ireland asked Quackenbush if this would be enough time to complete the job and suggested maybe reassessing the time allotment so that the job would definitely be completed.
“It’s achievable”, responded Quackenbush.
While the bridge piles cannot be installed until spring 2010, Quackenbush said work would still continue on shaping the ramps, putting in new sewers and replacing the lamp surrounding the track.
“We’re just rearranging what had to happen.”
The delay in completion will not impact the Banff/Jasper grant money as the cut off date for that is March 2011. |
