It was alternating traffic on 62nd Avenue west of Highway 97 as crews install storm sewers and resurface the road up to Osoyoos Secondary School. The work is scheduled to be completed by the end of August. On Thursday, council agreed to extend the project by an additional 200 metres to take it past the high school. (Richard McGuire photo)
Osoyoos town council agreed last Thursday to extend the road construction project on 62nd Avenue by an additional 200 metres.
Council approved the redistribution of funding for various capital budget projects at a special open council meeting on Thursday morning.
The work will see the road resurfaced beyond Osoyoos Secondary School. The original contract with H & M Excavating Ltd. would only have repaved the road as far as the turn to the tennis courts.
The additional cost for the extension is $101,038.
A report from Jim Dinwoodie, director of operational services (public works), recommended delaying three small projects until 2019 so the money could be reallocated to the paving.
Savings from delaying lake access path maintenance, replacing trees at the marina and installing stairs at the south end of Gyro Park add up to $30,000.
Combined with $64,000 savings on the initial 62nd Avenue reconstruction contract and $21,000 savings on work on Main Street in the spring, the total savings of $115,000 would more than cover the cost of the extension.
Dinwoodie said in his report that the road surface on the 200 metres was in as bad shape as the surface of the road in the original contract.
Although some council members had questions and misgivings, the motion was passed unanimously by the four council members present. Councillor C.J. Rhodes was away attending the board meeting of the regional district.
Mayor Sue McKortoff asked why the extension wasn’t included in the original contract.
Dinwoodie told the mayor that the town originally didn’t believe it had enough money in its budget to do the additional 200 metres.
McKortoff agreed it would probably cost more to reopen the contract next year than to do it now when the contractor and equipment are already in place.
Councillor Mike Campol expressed misgivings about delaying projects that had already been approved and that town residents were expecting to be done.
“I don’t like doing this,” he said.
Nonetheless, he agreed with the logic of getting the 62nd Avenue work all done at once and he supported the motion.
McKortoff also brought forward a complaint about dust from the project affecting a nearby resident who has an orchard with fruit maturing.
Dinwoodie said the contractor waters the road at the beginning, middle and end of the day.
Asked by Campol whether a product other than water could be used to control the dust, Dinwoodie said it wouldn’t be cost effective to spend several thousand dollars on calcium chloride when the road will be paved this month anyway. He noted too that there have been shortages of the product and quite likely it couldn’t be obtained in time.
The town doesn’t have its own water truck, but Councillor Carol Youngberg noted that Desert Park has one. The town will look into using it to control dust at the worst time, the end of the day.
The construction is scheduled to be completed before school returns at the beginning of September.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
