First Street connection to Pacific expected in June

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This article was published 10/12/2019 (2337 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Work to connect Pacific Avenue with the First Street bridge is now set to finish in June 2020 — another delay for the bridge renovation that was originally scheduled to be completed in summer 2018.

Brandon’s Zenith Paving was awarded the $1,772,295.65 contract for the work in August. According to a posting on MERX, a public tendering website, the contract is for “grade reconstruction, concrete curbing, concrete pavement, milling, and bridge deck paving” on First Street at the intersection with Pacific Avenue.

David Cumming, one of the owners of Zenith Paving, confirmed over email connecting Pacific Avenue and First Street is included in the scope of the work. He said the company is hoping to have the work done by the end of June 2020, depending on when work can start in the spring.

The amount of rain Brandon received in September and October is to blame for the delay, Cumming said, which a spokesperson for the department confirmed on Monday.

The tender closed on Aug. 8. Zenith Paving beat out Maple Leaf Construction Ltd., which bid $2,049,017.25 for the project. The provincial spokesperson said Zenith won the contract because the company was the low bidder and met all the bid requirements.

In July, a spokesperson for Manitoba Infrastructure said the road connection was scheduled to be completed by the end of the fall. The date was a delay from the original completion date of summer 2018. At the time, the provincial spokesperson said rebuilding the intersection was part of the original scope of work but was not included in the initial contract.

Currently, Pacific Avenue ends at Second Street, and there are a series of orange pylons and roadblocks at the end of the road. The sidewalk on the west side of the bridge is also unfinished.

The First Street bridge was replaced in 2017 after an engineering analysis discovered structural issues with the old bridge. The cost of the project was around $50 million.

The First Street bridge is not the only Brandon bridge set for major construction. The Eighth Street bridge, which was just west of the First Street one, is set to be rebuilt as a pedestrian/active transportation bridge.

In March, Brandon City Council allocated $17,500 toward the project as a contingency as part of the preliminary design process.

Aaron Kaluzniak, the city’s manager of infrastructure, said the preliminary design was completed in April, but the design was not significantly different from what had previously been shown to the public. City administration will give on update on the bridge during city budget deliberations at the end of January and early February. He said construction on the bridge depends on when funding from the provincial or federal government becomes available.

“Things are really up in the air right now just because we’re still waiting to hear back on funding…things have been moving along,” Kaluzniak said.

The Daly Overpass is also set to be rebuilt. The preferred design was first made public by Landmark Planning and Design in June, but the province formally unveiled it at an information session at the Victoria Inn in October. The bridge will be rebuilt to the east of the current one, with two traffic lanes in each direction.

Construction on the new Daly Overpass is expected to start in spring 2021 and take approximately two years.

» dmay@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @DrewMay_