Kevin Anderson
editor@lapressecommunautaire.ca
KAPUSKASING – Kapuskasing council is reviewing a request from General Manager of Public Works, Éric Côté, to petition the provincial government for an extension on the current highway improvement work to include the intersection of Brunelle Rd. and Government Rd. (aka Hwy. 11).
“So, what’s happened here, is that the pricing we received for the highway improvement project up to but not including that intersection, left us with about $1 million of grant money left,” said Côté. “So, what we’ve done is design and budget to include the intersection. If we get the ok from council, we will then proceed to forward a request to the government to extend the contract.”
Côté said the original grant was based on the preliminary estimate for the cost of the project. Along the way, the scope of work of the project changed, accounting for the discrepancy.
“We were lucky in this case with the pricing,” he explained. “We’ve since come across a few issues that would necessitate the contract being extended further. Since we’ve got that money value left, we’re going to ask the government to allow us to tackle those issues now.”
Côté commented he expected if council gave him the green light, that an answer from the government would come within approximately one month.
“If it’s a go ahead, we’ll get a contractor on it and if the government says no, we’ll stop where we were previously designated to stop,” he surmised. “If everything goes as we hope it will, we’ll be stopping at LaSalle Ave.”
The Public Works head said going as far as LaSalle Ave. would save future headaches with regards to the highway project.
“The way the water system is designed and the need to realign the highway would be made much easier by stopping at that point,” he said. “Otherwise, where we’d have to stop would create a bit of a mess and would be a safety hazard.”
