Repair work to roads and bridges affected by last Friday’s massive flooding will take months and will likely cost the City of Toronto more than a million dollars.
Roadbuilding
Toronto to spend over $1M on road and bridge repairs
Repair work to roads and bridges affected by last Friday’s massive flooding will take months and will likely cost the City of Toronto more than a million dollars.
“The real chore is going to be for the municipalities to get those jobs specified and tendered,” said Ontario Road Builders’ Association Executive Director Rob Bradford.
Bradford said he anticipates road replacement work on Finch Avenue West will likely be the biggest, most time consuming and most costly job that needs to be tackled.
City of Toronto officials gathered Sunday to further examine the work needed to repair a section of Finch Avenue West, near Sentinel Road, which was washed out when a massive storm system moved through the city Friday. The storm caused tremendous damage throughout a corridor of the province from Milverton to Toronto, hitting the city at about 3:30 p.m. with heavy rain and high winds.
Tornadoes were spotted in several regions of southwestern Ontario and one that touched down in Fergus flattened buildings and damaged cars. Roadways were littered with broken limbs and debris.
Toronto city officials reported three other sections of roadway required immediate attention: construction work on Military Trail at Ellesmere Road is expected to be completed by Friday; repair work to Steeles Avenue East, east of Markham Road, has been completed, and along Steeles Avenue West, east of Dufferin Street, two traffic lanes in each direction and the sidewalks were opened earlier this week, but curb lanes are remaining closed and inspection of the bridge is continuing.
“We have the capacity to do the work,” Bradford said, estimating that even with rushing it, working out the specifications for the job and the proper contract document may take two to three weeks and the tender process is usually another two weeks.
Even in emergency situations, such as this, most municipalities do not usurp the usual tendering process because they want to ensure they receive competitive bids. However, Bradford said, city officials could decide to shorten the process in order to speed things up.
To further complicate matters, working out estimates for the type of road repairs needed in flood conditions isn’t always easy. Even with smaller washouts, repairs will depend on the conditions which lie beneath the surface.
“Soil condition – even in the best of conditions – becomes an issue,” said Bradford, noting that if additional soil testing and reports are necessary, it can add another delay to project progress and can make it more complex.
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