Clyde's 51st Street will get a facelift as Village councillors directed administration to move forward with the a capital project at the July 7 council meeting that will rehabilitate the street.
A presentation from Mike Andrews of MP Consulting Firm provided councillors with two options to determine the project's longevity and cost-effectiveness.
Council resolved to “Proceed with complete replacement and repair with asphalt, including the removal and replacement of manholes on 51st Street from 52nd Avenue to 50th Avenue in 2025.” They also directed administration to include the replacement of 51st Street from 50th Avenue to 47th Street in the 2026 capital budget. This would cost the Village over $893,000.
The only difference with the second option would have been to replace and repair with chip seal. “That's [the] quick, easy, cheaper option versus the traditional road rehabilitation,” said Andrews. This would have cost just over $724,000 but the longevity between the two was the deciding factor.
Starting fresh from the clay will give the road 20 to 25 years before anything would need to be replaced, compared to the chip seal, which would need replacement in just 10 years.
The repair will include starting fresh from the clay, allowing them to rebuild it completely and fix the water main issues brought forth by the Public Works department. Andrews said that they included in the budget the underground work that would be required, totalling $136,500.
Another issue Andrews brought up to the council is the ideal contractor team. While it is typical to have one contractor that would subcontract other businesses to do other parts of the work they are not qualified to do, Andrews suggested a different approach.
“We found in smaller projects like these with smaller communities, it’s usually more cost-effective to reach out to smaller local contractors," he said. "Unfortunately, these contractors aren’t large enough to get the bonding capacity or attract the subcontractors.”
The solution is to have contractors in the area bid on the underground, asphalt and concrete work separately, said Andrews. They would not have to carry the large safety pre-qualification, large bonds or worry about the subcontractors.
However, this could lead to warranty issues, “If the road settles, the asphalt contractor did his job. So, is the warranty on the underground contractor or the surface contractor, those types of items do start to get a little fuzzy,” Andrews said.
Coun. Alex Strembesky said he preferred using a general contractor. “There’s no reason you can’t have a prime contractor and he can reach out to local businesses,” he said
Mayor Charis Aguirre's major concern was the empty lots that run along the west side of the street that are currently owned by developers. The concern is whether they could add water and sewer services to the scope of work to avoid having to rip the road up if utilities are needed in that area.
However Coun. Danielle Dillman said she had a "gut feeling" that they will stay vacant for a while and do not want to hold off on rehabilitating the road in case the developer does not come through.
The decision on contractors and additional utilities units has yet to be decided.
