Second Street, Fourth Avenue work facing delay

By Gillian Slade on July 11, 2018.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com  @MHNGillianSlade

Completion of utility construction work in the Second Street SW and Fourth Avenue area will be delayed about four to six weeks, the city says.

Once paving is complete, and after all the work is satisfactorily complete it will be mid to late August, said Chris Turner, engineering superintendent utility distribution systems for the city. For Second Street, it could be a little sooner.

Turner had originally estimated the project could be complete by mid July.

“We had a manufacturers delay on some of the fittings,” said Turner. “I am hoping that they will be here in the first week of August.”

The valves that the city is waiting for are manufactured specifically to order and typically take up to 16 weeks to supply.

Turner is hopeful the detours affecting traffic flow could be over by the end of the month. Crews will then have to return to Fourth Avenue and Second Street to finish up installation of the valves, said Turner.

The city does not deal directly with the manufacturer of these valves.

“We have suppliers that deal with them. That being said, we have tried. We have three different suppliers we use and the parts all come from the same manufacturer,” said Turner. “The lead time is at best 12 weeks, typically 16 weeks, and now we’re just delayed because we don’t order anything in a large volume.”

The valves were ordered by the city well in advance, the beginning of April, but the manufacturer had an issue in production, said Turner.

On Monday, the pipeline had been laid and backfilled to west of 324 Second Street SW, said Turner. These pipes still need to be tested and commissioned. About 120 metres of pipe still needs to be placed along Second Street, but up to 40 metres a day is possible.

Originally when utility construction work on First Street SW was completed, paving of the road was to be delayed until work on Second Street and Second Avenue was complete. It would then all be done together. However, First Street has now been paved.

The paving contractor was willing and able to do the paving in two stages without any additional cost. This has meant less dust for the heavily used First Street while work continues on Second Street, etc., said Turner.

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