Kenaston project costs to rise to $44.3 million
Winnipeg Sun
Saturday, November 13, 2004
By ROSS ROMANIUK, CITY HALL REPORTER
will have to dig deeper than expected to build the Kenaston Boulevard underpass. The job's estimated cost has risen to $44.3 million, up from the initial price tag of between $40 million and $43 million projected earlier this year.
A private report states the city is now on the hook for all of the increase -- about $18.25 million overall, up from the $13-16 million expected last March when the federal and provincial governments came to the table with funds.
Ottawa and the Manitoba government remain committed to coughing up $13 million apiece.
Though the increased cost estimate could yet come down, the report states the price tag has risen because of the expected relocation of some Manitoba Hydro infrastructure, excavation limits, extensions of pavement limits and traffic lane details, among other snags.
Members of city hall's public works committee will go behind closed doors on Monday for a special meeting to discuss the project's updated list of needs and obstacles -- including a disagreement with Canadian National on the structure's design where Kenaston meets Wilkes Avenue.
Under the Canadian Transportation Act, CN is required to contribute to the cost of the project where its main line intersects with the increasingly busy Route 90.
FOUR TO SIX LANES
Such contributions are usually 15% of "basic structure" costs.
Jim Feeny, CN's regional public affairs director, refused to give details on the dispute over the design of the underpass, which is being planned to accommodate additional Kenaston width if the street is eventually expanded near the track crossing from four lanes to six.
"Because the discussions are under way and haven't been concluded, I'm not in a position to comment on this," Feeny said. "Things are progressing as much as we would expect."
Decisions are needed swiftly in the coming months if work is to be completed on schedule, the report states, adding the city's capital budget will need $5.1 million for the underpass next year and another $4.2 million in 2006.
Work could begin in earnest by next May, with construction of connecting streets proceeding first so that the underpass is finished by November 2006.