St. Albert city council learned on Tuesday that it will cost the city an additional $8 million to finish twinning Ray Gibbon Drive, bringing the city's total bill to $35.1 million.
According to a new report to council, written by city transportation manager Dean Schick, the cost increase was identified last year when design work was completed for the next two stages of the four stage project, which got underway in 2020.
The city and the provincial government signed a cost sharing agreement for the project back in 2019, and that agreement involves each party paying 50 per cent of the cost. At the time, the project's budget was $54.2 million, and the cost sharing agreement was set up to have the city pay for the first two stages, while the provincial government would be responsible for stages three and four, which are scheduled to be completed in 2025/2026 and 2028/2029 respectively.
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Schick's report explains the province's share of the total cost has also increased by about $8 million.
With the $16 million overall cost increase, the project's total financial impact is now pegged at $72.2 million, with the city and the province both paying about $35.1 million in total.
Mayor Cathy Heron said prior to voting that she was pleased that the provincial government has maintained its commitment to splitting the project evenly with the city, despite the cost increase.
“We spend a lot of time criticizing the province in this room, but this is one that we actually have to give them a whole lot of thanks,” Heron said. “When I speak to other municipalities in Alberta, they are continually surprised that we got this deal with the province.”
Coun. Wes Brodhead and Coun. Mike Killick also recognized the province for their role in the project during debate, and reiterated why they thought the project was important for St. Albert's future.
“I think the development of [Ray Gibbon Drive], which was originally the West Bypass, has certainly opened us up to becoming a city of increased not only commercial dynamics, but residential dynamics,” Brodhead said. “It's a good thing.”
“All too often we're challenged in these big capital projects,” added Killick. “Here's something that's taken a long time to come to fruition... so it's assured to be locked into the future budgets and that's great news.”
Stage three will see the section of Ray Gibbon Drive between the McKenney Avenue intersection and the Giroux Road intersection be expanded to have two lanes travelling in both directions. The fourth and final stage is for the section of Ray Gibbon Drive between the Giroux Road intersection and Villeneuve Road, where Ray Gibbon Drive ends.
During stage three, Schick's report explains, the city also plans to widen the part of Giroux Road that connects to Ray Gibbon Drive, expanding the roadway into two lanes travelling each direction rather than the one lane in each direction that currently exists between the Nevada Place intersection and the Ray Gibbon Drive intersection.
The Giroux Road widening is not covered under the city's agreement with the province, Schick wrote, and as such the city will need to spend $1.28 million to complete that work.
Council unanimously approved the additional $9.28 million in spending on June 2.
Schick wrote that twinning Ray Gibbon Drive to have two lanes travelling in each direction instead of one will “result in increased capacity of the roadway, and improved levels of service that will also support increased demands of growth and development prior to next stages of corridor improvements.”
Schick also wrote that given the final phase of the project is still four years away, it's possible the cost will increase yet again, although the increase approved by council on June 2 does include a contingency amount to try and account for further cost increases.
“The project accounts for a percentage of contingency within the estimated costs, and the borrowing bylaw allows for additional considerations of contingency that may be presented and requested to future council for approval of funding towards the project,” Schick wrote.
To cover the $9.28 million in new spending the city will borrow about $8.39 million from the existing $36.6 million Ray Gibbon Drive borrowing bylaw council approved back in 2019, while the remainder will be funded between the capital reserve ($527,000), and “$364,000 [will be] funded from recovered costs received during phases one and two,” according to Schick's report.
