After a busy summer season of construction along Airdrie’s Main Street, City council has reviewed the progress of the utility upgrade project and examined opportunities to make improvements to the operation when it resumes in the spring of 2020.
The initiative, which began in May, includes the installation of a new water main and sanitary sewer pipe between Veterans Boulevard and Elk Hill, as well as road improvements.
“A reasonable expectation is this work will extend the service life of the underground infrastructure by 50 years and the driving surface by 25 years,” said Glenn Archer, team leader with Capital Projects, in his report to council at a regular meeting Nov. 18. “The visible public elements of the project require significant road detours, brief service interruptions and temporary water servicing.”
With approximately 12,000 vehicles travelling Main Street at First Avenue each day, according to figures obtained just prior to the start of construction, Archer said it was important for the City to minimize community impacts. Both the construction and closures were phased, he noted, to ensure access to businesses was maintained. Still, he said, “there is no question” the project affected businesses in the downtown area – particularly retail operations.
“Staff wish to recognize and convey our appreciation to the businesses negatively impacted by the construction, and to which this project has had deleterious effects,” Archer said. “Additionally, residents working and visiting the core area were inconvenienced. This is unavoidable in projects of this nature, but should be noted and recognized.”
He added staff will “make every effort” to improve both performance and efficiency to deliver the project in “as short a duration as is safe and cost-effective.”
However, “significant” delays pushed back the project schedule in 2019, Archer said, primarily a result of unexpectedly high amounts of precipitation in both quantity and frequency, unpredictable soil conditions/contamination and the location and alignment of the shallow and deep utilities inconsistent with the record drawings. The project is approximately 50 per cent complete and on-budget, with staff expecting to resume construction May 4, 2020.
“The exact date will depend on the departure of winter,” he said. “The project team has also committed to accommodating the Canada Day parade and Pride.”
A communications plan to notify businesses and residents directly adjacent to and surrounding the impacted areas was presented, and messages to the general public will include road signage, letters, traditional media, MyAirdrie notifications and updates posted to the City’s website and social networking channels.
According to Archer, the progress of the first half of the project did provide staff with some key takeaways that will be implemented when construction resumes.
Feedback was received from residents and businesses regarding detour routes, with concerns around speeding, traffic congestion and confusion. He said staff will work collaboratively with Municipal Enforcement to ensure speeding is reduced, and they will continue to re-examine detour routes to achieve better performance and less confusion.
Additionally, he noted, the project team will seek to address concerns from the business community by working with Corporate Communications and Economic Development to advertise that the downtown businesses are still open during construction.
“We, in my view, have extensively reviewed the communication plan,” Archer said. “We added in the email list, which was over and above what we did last year. The open houses, the social media, the newspapers, the radio, the full-time staff available to answer questions – it would not be my expectation that we would be able to commit a further service level for that.”
