BARRHEAD - A Spruce Grove-based road construction will receive close to $500,000 to replace two culverts in the County of Barrhead.
Councillors awarded the $489,200 (excluding GST) contract, including site occupancy, to Plains Constructors Canada during their June 17 meeting.
Infrastructure director Ken Hove said they grouped the two culverts in hopes the municipality would receive a more favourable rate.
The first culvert is on Township Road 602 A, constructed in 1960, while the second one is on Township Road 594.
The first culvert, which is 64 years old, was constructed in 1960. It consists of a 1,499-millimetre rise and a 2,057-millimetre span corrugated arch on a nine-degree right-hand forward skew with a seven-metre-wide roadway. The second culvert is a 66-year-old structure constructed in 1958. It was built on a 24-degree righthand forward skew with a seven-metre wide clear roadway.
Hove said the county applied for and received a Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program (STIP) grant to offset the costs to ratepayers.
The province created STIP to help municipalities solve their infrastructure deficit, boost the economy, and create jobs as part of its response to the coronavirus. The program allows municipalities to receive roughly 75 per cent of the funding for approved infrastructure projects.
In May, the municipality received $555,000 in STIP funding. The county will pay the balance using reserves. Total project costs, excluding $2,000 to purchase additional land for a right-of-way, are $740,000, which includes engineering.
The total estimated project cost is $703,048, including a 10 per cent contingency fund, engineering, the previously mentioned purchase of right-of-way and $7,700 for fish capture and release.
Hove said the projects were tendered through the municipality's engineering firm, with six companies submitting bids ranging from a low of $513,660 from Plains Constructors Canada Ltd to a high of $713,553.
"[The county's engineering firm] has worked with Plains Constructors Canada Ltd in the past, and they've always satisfactorily completed projects," he said.
Later in the meeting, the council authorized the municipality to sign STIP grant agreements with the province, allowing access to grant funds of up to $405,000.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
