Main Street reconstruction could be delayed four to six weeks: Hernen

Due to rain, older buildings, and labour and material shortages, Huntsville’s Main Street reconstruction project has been delayed anywhere from four to six weeks, Huntsville director of infrastructure and protective services Steve Hernen told council at its July 26 meeting.

“We’ve seen 353 milimetres now since June 1^st of rain, which is the equivalent of 14 inches,” said Hernen, adding that when the storm systems are impacted by heavy rain it takes at least a day for the additional water to drain through the system. “So all the systems they’re working on are constantly live and the deluge is causing massive problems.”

He said heavy rain is also causing problems in the sewage system as many stormwater lines are still pumping stormwater into the sewage infrastructure.

Stormwater, sewage, and waterlines into older buildings on Main Street are contributing to the delays. “They’re creating more difficulty than anticipated and a lot of it is to do with the old stone foundations in some of these buildings,” Hernen said, adding that some buildings have had new basements poured over the top of the stone foundations, which has also caused more headaches.

Availability of skilled trades and materials has become an issue, too, said Hernen, noting that things like streetlights are still on backorder.

He said steps being taken to make up for lost time include extending the work week. Crews were working Monday to Thursday, and now Friday is being added to their schedule. There are also plans to add additional night shifts as early as August 9. Hernen said the night shifts will work from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. when the day shift resumes. “They will not be working into the Friday night, Saturday, Sunday period so there’ll be no effect in that regard.”

Plans to combine upcoming construction stages are in the works, as well as to move materials and pipes to the old Empire lot, discussions that are currently taking place with its new owners.

Hernen said that while it is hoped that changing some things around will help the project pick up lost time, “in the event that we don’t, we’ve gotta start thinking about what does this look like and what does it affect next year. If that’s the case it means that construction will begin again in early spring as soon as possible and it would start from Centre Street to Lorne to complete the work, and then the final load of asphalt.”

He said the bridge scaffolding should be gone by this weekend and Riverside Park will be cleaned up shortly thereafter. The Kent Park contractor will start working on the new design sometime around mid-August.

“So at a minimum, at the end of this construction season… you’ll see the swing bridge will be done, you’ll see River Street will be done, you’ll see Kent Park done, you’ll see King Street and the Town Hall ramp area completed and done, and you’ll see Main Street from the swing bridge to Centre Street done, at a minimum. And like I say our plan is to still, and will always be, to get to the top of the street. And Dufferin Contracting has assured us that as long as it doesn’t snow they will continue working,” said Hernen.

Councillor Tim Withey called news of the delay disappointing. In terms of delays due to the rain, he said: “You’d think a company like Dufferin that’s probably done hundred of these projects would be able to anticipate this kind of thing that they were going to go through, I mean I think it’s a poor excuse for a delay.”

He questioned the disturbance night work would have on the people living along the main street and asked whether any consultations had taken place. Hernen said they had not, but if council decided that should happen they could undertake consultation, as long as that might take.

He said the night shifts would run eight nights in total. “Time is our one thing we don’t have a lot of to get this project done,” he added.

“I think we should consult. That’s my opinion,” said Withey.

“Yeah, we have to go ahead. There’s no question about delaying this and any time we can make up we have to definitely go ahead and do that,” said Councillor Brian Thompson.

Huntsville Mayor Karin Terziano said the residents could be notified via a hand-delivered flyer that the night construction would take place over a two-week period, four days each week.

Councillor Jonathan Wiebe suggested that perhaps the municipality could consider some sort of voucher program as there may be those who simply cannot handle the noise. “So we may have to make a little bit of space somehow to accommodate people in other locations to have a night’s sleep somewhere else,” he said, adding that there may be some health issues concerned. “I think we need to be prepared in that vein.”

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