Cumberland St. repairs deferred, freeing up $1M for Thunder Bay

Superior Morning3:19Quality of Roadwork in Thunder Bay

Thunder Bay's mayor sounds off about the quality of some roadwork done in the city recently.The decision to defer work on Cumberland Street on Thunder Bay's north side had city council debating what to do with the freed-up money.

At Monday night's meeting, city staff recommended deferring the work until next year because the money in this year's budget won't cover the total cost.

The decision frees up about $1 million.

Coun. Rebecca Johnson argued that, since the city is already predicting a budget shortfall this year, the money shouldn't be spent.

"Maybe we better stop and think about what we need for the year-end as well," she said.

During the discussion, city staff told council that a number of residential streets couldn't be re-paved this year because there wasn't enough money.

Coun. Andrew Foulds proposed administration highlight some of those projects that could now be completed.

"I would expect our administration [would] deliver good value for tax dollars," he said.

"If that's not possible, then I suspect the recommendation will be 'no, there are no streets that we should be coming forward with,' and I think we have to be honest about that."

He added the city should not be "hosed on any extras in terms of those contracts."

Councillors expect to see that list next week.

Quality of asphalt?

The decision to defer work on Cumberland Street also frees up some other money.  Funds from water rates destined for the project will now go to other work, like the replacement of the twin water mains connected to the Bare Point water treatment plant, as well as work on the Chamberlain pumping station.

City staff said the original completion date for the Cumberland Street work was 2017, whether work started this year or not. Engineering officials report that, even by starting next year, the work can still be completed on-time.

The city will re-tender the contract next year.

The entire project involves water main replacement and road resurfacing between River Street and the Current River bridge.

While discussing Cumberland Street, Mayor Keith Hobbs took a shot at some of the roadwork that's been done recently in the city.

"We're putting record monies into infrastructure improvements and I don't think we're getting a good product in a lot of cases," he said.

Hobbs also referred to a Queen's University study done earlier this year that charges asphalt containing cheap additives is often used in Canada.

The city's engineering director told council that asphalt used in Thunder Bay conforms to Ministry of Transportation guidelines, adding there's only a handful of suppliers of liquid asphalt in Canada that all municipalities use.