Champlain Township added Bedard and Menard Roads to their 2024 reconstruction projects for the as the actual costs fall much lower than initial estimates.
Council for the Township of Champlain approved the budget revision in a split vote during the regular council meeting of April 25, as councillors Gerry Miner and Sarah Bigelow asked for the Township’s public works department to present a price estimate for the reconstruction of Maplewood Drive, arguing that machinery for the reconstruction was already positioned on Pattee Road and could easily be moved to Maplewood Drive to cut costs.
No additional cost
Champlain budgeted $703,650 in the 2024 capital budget for the reconstruction of Gilles, Lucien, Maurice and Valois Street in the Aloha subdivision, as well as Deslaurier, Eldemer and Pattee Road, using worst case costs from 2023 to create an estimate.
However, Champlain decided to do asphalt removal internally in a project piloted on the reconstruction of Perrault Street in 2023 to cut costs by 25 per cent. As the pilot project was a success, Champlain decided to do the fine grading of the pavement internally as well, reducing costs by another 8 per cent. Another factor for the lower than estimated prices is the decrease in the cost of asphalt itself since 2023.
In total, the revised cost for the reconstruction amounted to $531,000, $172,000 under budget. The public works department therefore recommended that Bedard and Menard Street be added to the road reconstruction projects in 2024 at an estimated cost of $166,700, for a total cost of $697,700.
All work will be done one lane at a time with traffic control. No roads are expected to be fully closed. Work is expected to be finished by July 26.
