All construction activities on the St. Albert Trail barrier wall replacement project have resumed, after the city issued a stop work order last week to its contractor following two major incidents.
However, the project completion date will now be end of October, nearly a month past the original date.
St. Albert project manager Garry Dang-Vuu said Wilco Construction, the city’s contractor for the barrier wall replacement, was given the green light to continue work on the project Wednesday after providing a work plan that was reviewed by the city and found to be acceptable.
Last week, the project was temporarily halted after a gas line was hit, stopping gas services for 760 homes for nine hours. The incident came on the heels of private properties adjacent to the wall being flooded after a water main line was hit at the end of July, releasing 1,000 cubic metres of water.
Dang-Vuu said Wilco has submitted additional procedures and a revised methodology, along with additional safety measures. While the stop work order was in effect, the city observed Wilco providing additional training to its staff.
“That validates that for us, at least, to observe that Wilco is not only writing an effective plan to move forward, but they are training their staff. That’s some of the criteria that went into the decision for us to allow them to start work again,” Dang-Vuu said.
Wilco has 42 days of site occupancy as of Sept. 5 to complete the project, which does not include any weather days, Dang-Vuu said.
He has an incident report on the gas line strike, but as it has not gone through a claims process yet, Dang-Vuu was not able to comment on possible causes.
He added the city is “very apologetic.”
“The city is very apologetic in how this has gone so far, and we are looking to safely and effectively complete the work,” Dang-Vuu said.
The barrier wall replacement is in its second of three phases this summer, which includes replacing the southern wall section from Hebert Road to Sterling Street. It was originally estimated to be completed by the end of September.
Overall, the project is expected to cost just under $6 million. The first phase, which involved replacing a section of wall between Villeneuve Road and Giroux Road, was completed last summer. Dang-Vuu previously told the Gazette the third phase, from Sterling to Sturgeon Road, is tentatively set for next year, subject to council's approval in the 2020 budget.
The old barrier wall was first constructed between 1983 and 1992 and gave some homeowners access to city land which they used to expand their backyards. In October, estimates showed some properties would lose five or more metres of that land with the new wall alignment.
