Mountain View County councillors have expressed their displeasure with the delay of the $2.8-million Big Prairie Bridge project over the Little Red Deer River northwest of Cremona.
During last week’s Policies and Priorities meeting, Deputy Reeve Patricia McKean told the contractor and construction officials that the delay is a big disappointment to residents living in the area.
“I am appalled at how this has gone,” said McKean, whose Div. 2 includes the bridge. “It is very frustrating. It is beyond frustrating. I had an open house with my residents in late October and I personally called to find out how we were doing and I was told we were right on schedule. I’m shocked that you guys didn’t know this was coming.
“My whole thing on this is there is a huge flaw in our provincial system on going with the lowest bidder because it doesn’t reflect competency whatsoever. Now our ratepayers don’t have a bridge that they were promised.
“You can stand here and say you are sorry, but I look back at the bridge schedule that we first received in June and we were told that equipment would be deployed and it would be starting June 16. July 16 there was still no equipment sitting there. I realize we had a rain, but there was work that could have been being done and nothing was being done. You were a month behind from the very start and then in October to say we are right on schedule.”
The new Big Prairie Bridge will replace a bridge that was destroyed in a still-unsolved arson fire in 2009. The project cost is being shared 50-50 by MVC and Alberta Transportation.
On Nov. 30 the county announced that the planned delivery date of Nov. 30 would not be met. It will now be at least the spring of 2013 before work can be completed on the project, councillors heard.
Lawrence Haddow, president of Trevcon Enterprises, the contractor on the project, and Paul Carrier, project manger with CIMA, appeared before council to speak to the delay and to answer questions from councillors.
Haddow said a late start on the project — in July instead of the scheduled start time of June — as well as some poor weather and a shortage of workers due to other projects the company was working on caused the delay.
Work has now been stopped on the project due to winter conditions and will not resume until April or May, council heard.
In response to Deputy Reeve McKean’s comments, Haddow said: “I take responsibility for it (delay). There are a lot of reasons but I won’t look for excuses. I realize the people of that area have been waiting a long time.”
In a letter to the county, Haddow added: “I do understand the inconvenience that this bridge closure has impacted for everyone. I realize the local residents have waited for several years to get this structure rebuilt.”
Councillor Paddy Munro said he is not at all pleased with the delay.
“I don’t care about any construction problems,” said Munro. “All I care about is getting the bridge done. That’s why we have bonding and that’s why we have performance protocols.”
Late penalties against the contractor will not come into effect until the first day construction resumes in the spring, council heard.
The county says those penalties should be $1,350 a day; the contractor says it should be $800 a day.
Project manager Paul Carrier said rock berms have been placed near the bridge to protect it from flooding next spring.
He said work will resume “as early as possible in the spring when the frost comes out of the ground.”
In an interview following his appearance before council, Haddow said he is confident the project will be completed in a timely fashion once work restarts in 2013.
“I’ll be there myself on the first week to motivate and I will have all my own good people there,” said Haddow.
Following council, Deputy Reeve McKean said, “We need to have council reviewing contacts and we need to have our own project managers on jobs to give us updates from their eyes on how things are going. If we were more involved we won’t be left like this.”
