The rebuild of the St. David Street bridge in Fergus will move forward very early in the new year, as Centre Wellington council has approved a $3,509,980 tender to rehabilitate the Highway 6 structure over the Grand River.
The winning bid, approved by council on Dec. 18, is from McLean Taylor Construction Limited of St. Marys, which also rebuilt the Tower Street bridge in Fergus in 2013.
In 2016 the township submitted a Connecting Links application to rehabilitate the St. David Street bridge in Fergus. The application was successful, resulting in $2.28 million in provincial funding for the bridge, which was identified as one of the highest priorities in the township’s asset management plan.
Managing director of corporate services Dan Wilson noted that of the 56 firms that expressed interest, seven bids were submitted for the project.
Managing director of infrastructure services Colin Baker noted one of the subcontractors, J.G. Goetz of Guelph, has considerable experience in Centre Wellington, including construction of the previous St. David Street bridge in 1968 “so things are coming full circle.”
Denis Hollands of Triton Engineering noted some of the tenders came in at more than the estimates because of the amount of work that has to be done in such a confined space.
Plus, he said, business access must be maintained on either side of the bridge, such as to the Brew House and the buildings behind that.
Hollands noted the contractor explained the intersections of St. Andrew and St. David, and Bridge and Queen, must also be kept open during construction for east-west traffic. He said another higher cost was the result of two water mains that must remain in service during construction using temporary water lines.
Another surprising cost was for rock excavation.
“It is considerably higher than what we normally see,” said Hollands. “I can tell you the contractor is anxious to get at this project by late January, possibly the third week.”
He noted the contractor is concerned about timing because the township wants the work completed by the end of October.
Another item that needs to be set up are detours. The route for heavy trucks north and south will be along Wellington Road 7 from Highway 6 to Alma and across Wellington Road 17 to Highway 6.
The bridge on Scotland/Gartshore in Fergus cannot be used for heavy truck traffic because of its weight limits. It will, however, be part of the detour for cars and lighter traffic.
Hollands said signs must be installed a minimum of one week before the bridge closes.
