Wet weather has played havoc with the schedule of two road projects, including a major rebuild of Mission Avenue that is now in danger of not being completed this year.
Rain, rain and more rain this summer has put the Mission Avenue reconstruction program weeks behind schedule and the city is now expecting a revised schedule early next week.
Construction on the first phase began earlier this year, on the section of the road running from St. Albert Trail to Perron Street.
“We were supposed to flip to Phase Two either late this week or early next week and we are nowhere near having that done,” said Sue Howard, capital projects manager with the city. “We have asked the contractor to put together a revised schedule they believe they can get done.”
Howard said that revised schedule will include options for the city and one of those options will be delaying the second phase until next year.
She said it is also possible they will ask to close the intersection completely at Perron Street during construction or take other steps to speed up the work.
“The contractor has to look at what their schedule is and find out what they realistically can get done.”
The second phase would rebuild the road between Perron Street and Mount Royal.
Howard said one day of rain often leads to two days of delays because the crews have to wait for the site to dry before they can get back to work.
The rain hasn’t had as big an impact on the Delage Crescent reconstruction, which Howard said is about a few days to a week behind schedule.
“It hasn’t slowed the project down to any critical point, things are still going along as planned.”
Despite the delay, Howard said the contractor is hopeful they can make up the time before the end of the summer.
“They think they can make that up as long as the weather works out,” she said. “We are due for a break I am sure of it.”
