The town councillor said he was told the street would be paved by Dec. 23, but that still hasn’t happened. “I want to explain my frustration. We were told it would be done in October, in November, in December, and it doesn't end up being done.”
The town councillor said he was told the street would be paved by Dec. 23, but that still hasn’t happened. “I want to explain my frustration. We were told it would be done in October, in November, in December, and it doesn't end up being done.”
Town engineer Bob Funke clarified that repaving the street won’t take place until next summer when the project is completed, but that asphalt patching was supposed to be finished in December.
He said waiting for approval from the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway to install pipes underneath the railroad crossing on the street caused a month-long delay, which in turn resulted in the asphalt patching not getting finished.
“If we didn’t have the delay with the railroad, it would be all patched,” said Funke.
Because of the loss of time, he said the plan had to be revised, and they chose “to do key areas that have the highest traffic volumes.” He said some of those areas will have to be dug up again in the spring when installation of the water and sewer pipes resumes. “We’re a few weeks behind on where we wanted to be at the end of the year.”
He said the contractor, Tupper’s Trucking, patched as much as they could before Dec. 23. Typically it’s too cold past that date to successfully place asphalt. “There might be 10 per cent of the area that should be patched that didn’t get done,” said Funke.
He said the entire $1.2 million New Building Canada Fund project is expected to be completed in July, with all the pavement resurfacing completed by then. It involves installing new water lines on Acadia Avenue between Grant and Beaufort streets, and sewer lines on Pleasant Street from Foster Avenue to Acadia Avenue, and on Acadia from Pleasant Street to Beaufort Street, and began in August 2016.
Funke said Tupper’s will continuously maintain all of the areas with gravel until the final asphalt is placed. “It’s a lot of extra work. It’s a lot of incentive on the contractor to fix it permanently as quickly as he can.”
