Despite delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of St. Albert is reporting a majority of summer construction projects are on track and within budget.
Typically, the city spends the spring months awarding contracts for summer construction projects. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit Alberta, all projects had to be put on hold until they received council approval to move forward, said Jay Mason, manager of the city's capital projects office.
All contractors hired by the city also had to incorporate the province's health and safety guidelines into their plans.
"It was a real team effort between the consultants, contractors and ourselves in conjunction with Alberta Health Services to try to get us to a construction season," Mason said, noting he had never seen a construction season like this one before.
"But in my opinion, it was a real success throughout the whole industry to meet those expectations."
Some projects like sidewalk repairs got off to a late start, he said. Normally that work wraps up by September, but this year contractors will be continuing work on delayed projects through September and early October.
"But for a majority of our projects, we were able to hit the start date," he said.
However, the weather will determine how long crews are able to work outside as temperatures start to freeze over, Mason noted.
The city's capital project office has 104 projects in progress in St. Albert, with 56 projects out in the market right now as far as construction and design. The city was within budget for every one of their projects this year, Mason said.
Sidewalks and bus pads
Crews are currently working on sidewalk repairs in Akinsdale, Mason said. Sidewalk repairs have been completed in Sturgeon Heights, which focused on sidewalks on Spruce Crescent, Sable Crescent, portions of Sylvan Drive and Sunnyside Crescent, according to the city's map of construction projects.
Crews will then move on from Akinsdale to continue work in Braeside, Lacombe Park and Woodlands.
"The intent is to complete all the locations marked in those subdivisions prior to year-end," Mason said.
The city has also completed four bus pads out of the 10 set for completion this year. Bus pads are made of concrete and built adjacent to a bus stop to accommodate the weight of a bus.
The priority is to get the sidewalks complete first before the year ends so work can begin on the remaining six bus pads located in Heritage Lakes and Grandin.
"If not, those will be pushed to the spring of next year," he said.
Asphalt overlays and parking lots
Concrete work is going on right now to get the curbs levelled out to accept the asphalt. Crews are just finishing up this work in Grandin, and will be moving into Lacombe and Deer Ridge shortly, Mason said.
The city completed three road rebuilds this year, including on Mission Ave. adjacent to Morgan Park.
"That was on schedule and on budget, and completed roughly a month ago," he said.
Two other partial-depth reclamations were done in Grandin on Gillian Crescent and Greenhill Street, where crews went down to the material underneath the road.
Work on parking lot improvements was held by council this year until June 30, which means the tender went out after that date. A contractor will be selected this year, but the construction has been pushed until next spring, Mason said.
Ray Gibbon Drive
Crews are continuing progress on the Ray Gibbon Drive twinning project.
As of Aug. 15, the southbound lanes have been prepared for asphalt paving, and the majority of concrete work between LeClair Way and 137 Avenue is complete.
"In September, they'll be focusing on the east side of Ray Gibbon Drive and LeClair Way, and they're going to repair and repave the existing roadway that's there," Mason said. "That means we'll be switching traffic on Sept. 15 over to the new lanes to allow us to work on the existing lanes."
Construction will take place in four phases over a 10-year period, starting at the south end of the road. The first phase is expected to be complete by the end of this year, pushing the construction zone north of LeClair Way, Mason said.
When it's done, Ray Gibbon Drive will be a four-lane arterial road with sidewalk trails, curbs, lights and intersections leading into the rest of the city.
St. Albert Trail North
Crews are still working on removing existing landscaped medians to make way for the new road alignment along St. Albert Trail and Coal Mine Road.
The first phase of the project, which began June 15, includes improvements to Villeneuve Road and Coal Mine Road from Ebony Way to St. Albert Trail. That's expected to wrap up at the end of 2021.
"They won't see much else happening until the spring as far as work on Coal Mine Road and Villeneuve, but the focus right now is getting all that base work prep done for future lanes going to the north end."
A full closure of Coal Mine Road, from St. Albert Trail to Ebony Way, to accommodate heavy construction is expected to last until the end of October.
Second and third phases of this project are currently in the design stage, and the intent is to have those done by 2023, he said.
Nakî Transit Centre
The new transit centre opened on Aug. 30, but several features are still under construction.
"We just have some final accesses to complete, and finishing the building," Mason said. "That should be done by the end of September."
Stop signs will be installed at the intersections leading into the transit centre from Campbell Road, which will be in place until permanent traffic signals are installed. Until then, the speed limit near the transit centre is reduced to 50 km per hour.
Public washrooms won't be open until the end of the month, and toilet facilities will be available on site for transit drivers only. Signage is in place to direct riders from the parking lot to transit stop locations.
