WESTLOCK – Although crews have yet to start the final push to complete the massive $7-plus-million 108th Street reconstruction project that started in spring 2021, Town of Westlock officials aren’t worried and say it’s still on track to be done this year.
CAO Simone Wiley confirmed last week that the contractor, which ran into “scheduling and the timing of other projects”, is now expected to start work on the stretch from the bulk water station to CN Rail tracks on 103rd Avenue either July 4 or July 11, close to a month after the expected start date of June 12. At their May 8 meeting, Town of Westlock councillors voted unanimously to amend the municipality’s 2023-2024 capital budget for DPC30-10 Infrastructure Rehab Program 108th Street from $1,485,000 to $1,870,000 and will fund it via reserves, “contributions” and the Canadian Communities Building Fund Grant.
“We still have plenty of timeline to get it done and remain on track for the originally-anticipated completion date, so we’re not overly concerned,” said Wiley June 28.
The 108th Street project originally started April 6, 2021, and was to include a fresh asphalt overlay, new curbs, gutters, and sidewalks, as well as a new storm sewer line, sanitary sewer line and sanitary water line for the entire stretch but quickly ground to a halt following the discovery of “heavy concentrations of hydrocarbons” from a long-since shuttered Imperial Oil fuel site. That year crews got about 80 per cent of the stretch done, while the project was shelved in 2022 as the town and Imperial Oil continued negotiations on the clean-up bill.
During this phase, access to Westlock Terminals on 108th Street will be from 97th Avenue only and at the start, access to Pembina Valley Trucking, Nutrien Ag Solutions, and the off-leash dog park will be from 103rd Avenue, and then switch to 97th Avenue as the off-leash dog park will only be accessible by foot.
The town had initially tabbed the end of October for completion, although during a past interview town operations director Robin Benoit said that was worst-case estimate and was hopeful it would be done sooner as they had “four to six weeks of underground work to do and then the contractor will be in to do surface work.”
In a May 9, 2023, interview, town CAO Simone Wiley called the additional $400,000 for the 108th Street work this year an “inflationary increase” because of the one-year delay and said that negotiations with Imperial Oil regarding the clean-up costs were nearing an end but added that once they’re concluded they’ll be bound by a non-disclosure agreement on the settlement.
Wiley has previously declined comment when asked how much Imperial has been invoiced as the initial clean-up estimate of the site was pegged at $1.6 million and in June 2021, councillors voted unanimously to amend that year’s capital budget to add $1.6 million for the work. Imperial Oil, the owners of the 300-by-94-foot lot on the southern side of 108th Street in Whissellville from where the contamination emanated, were invoiced $782,498.31 as of June 2021.
