GUELPH – On Feb. 29 Wellington County council awarded the tender for a $6.6-million project to replace the Bosworth Bridge on Wellington Road 7 in Mapleton to Looby Builders Ltd.
The Stratford company’s tender of $5,353,055, the lowest of six bids for the project, was just under $1 million lower than the highest bid from Brampton-based Graham Brothers Construction.
However, when total construction costs, including professional fees of about $640,000 and a contingency fund of $500,000 are included, the project comes in about $440,000 above the $6.59 million budgeted by the county.
The additional contingency funds will be drawn from the county’s roads reserve ($300,000), plus $70,000 each from the county’s Canada Community Building Fund and Ontario Infrastructure Fund allocations, states a report from Jackie Osti, the county’s manager of purchasing and risk management services.
The work includes the complete removal of the current single span Warren Camelback steel pony truss structure and replacement with a new 50-metre single span steel plate girder bridge, along with reconstruction of the roadway for approximately 230 metres on either side.
The project will require a full road closure, the report notes.
County roads manager Joe de Koning told the Advertiser in an email a pre-construction meeting has been set for March 12, after which more details will be available.
A March 7 press release issued by the county states the road will be closed from March 18 until the end of December.
The official detour route will be via Wellington Roads 8, 11 and 12.
Detour route during closure for the Bosworth Bridge replacement project will utilize Wellington Roads 8, 11 and 12. County of Wellington image
However, councillor James Seeley noted a recent closure of Wellington Road 35 in Puslinch pushed traffic onto township-maintained roads.
“We need to have something in place for detours that go on to municipal gravel roads because it has been a nightmare of complaints and problems and maintenance,” said Seeley.
“And the county has been fantastic with us, but the abuse myself and the council, and even the accusations against county staff and the contractor, are branded online and they’re unfounded.
“So, if we’re going to have bridge closures, which this one may appear to be, that push traffic onto gravel roads, I feel we need to plan for that going forward.”
Councillor Earl Campbell said, “That was a discussion we did have at the committee meeting as well, because it is (in) my township and we’ve had issues in the past with roads being closed and gravel roads being used.”
