WESTLOCK – A little over two years after work started on the massive $7-plus-million 108th Street reconstruction project, crews will return this week to finish up the remaining 20 per cent.
Via a release, the Town of Westlock confirmed work will start June 12 on 108th Street from the bulk water station to CN Rail tracks on 103rd Avenue — town operation manager Robin Benoit confirmed the bulk water station will remain open throughout this phase of construction.
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.
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.
With work about to restart which brings the finish line into sight, Benoit said he’s gratified.
“It’ll be nice to see this one finally wrapped up. It’s been a long delay and we’re looking forward to getting it completed,” said Benoit June 6.
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.
Benoit’s been in contact with all the affected businesses, along with the two homeowners regarding their access during this phase and encourages residents to watch for road construction signs and sign up for Westlock Regional Notification System for transportation alerts to avoid delays in the construction zones.
“We’ll continue to work with the businesses to make it as easy as possible for them. For Westlock Terminals, they’ve been through this once already and understand what they’re facing and they have been communicating with all their drivers and customers as well,” said Benoit.
While the town is tabbing the end of October for completion, Benoit said that’s the worst-case estimate and is hopeful it’ll be done sooner.
“We’ve got four to six weeks of underground work to do and then the contractor will be in to do surface work. We’re getting a bit of late start this year and were trying to fit within their queue of work, but they’re excited and ready to go and are actually starting two weeks earlier than expected,” said Benoit. “We don’t think there’ll be any more surprises.”
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.
