Some construction projects to start early to curb another extended season

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The city will allow construction work to kick off earlier this season after last year’s major project delays, but that early start won’t include “critical” jobs on Regent Street and Riverside Drive.

That’s because both streets are on the detour for provincial work happening on the Princess Margaret Bridge in mid-May, engineering and operations director Dylan Gamble told members of a council committee Thursday.

Gamble said staff worked to overhaul its approach to construction season after a “difficult” 2023, when delays kept key roads closed or down to reduced lanes longer than planned.

Part of that, he said, will be putting tenders out earlier, with a new goal to get them out before the end of March

“We’ve always tried to get them out early in the year, but we had several tenders last year where there was some that went out in June, some that went out in July, one we didn’t release until August,” he said.

“When we get later in the season, the contractors have their schedules full. They’re not waiting for the city to put out tenders, so it ends up putting delays in the tenders later on, and we might not get as much competition.”

The city will also allow contractors to begin construction earlier.

“A lot of the tenders we had before we’d say: start after the school year (ends) … near the end of June. And that’s just to avoid the traffic that has to do with the schools earlier in the year,” Gamble said. “But then … all of a sudden, we’re pushing into when school goes in in September, in some of those contracts.”

For “critical projects,” Gamble said a request for proposals process will be introduced so projects can be scored not just by cost but by the proposed schedule as well.

But a few of those critical jobs won’t be able to start early as intended.

“One thing that is going to impact a couple tenders that we would like to get out early this year, Regent Street and Riverside Drive, is the work they’re doing on the Princess Margaret Bridge this year,” he told councillors.

“They’re going to start sometime in mid-May and their completion date is June 15, and then we’re going to have our tenders run after that … both of those projects, Riverside and Regent Street, are on the Princess Margaret Bridge detour, so we don’t want to block those roads off during that time.”

Gamble said those two projects should still be completed in the summer.

The city has done bonus clauses in the past for finishing projects early, and some councillors suggested that step last year, but Gamble said staff ultimately found that option might just cost the city more in the end.

“If we say, OK, after six weeks you can get a bonus if you can finish before that. If they look at the actual schedule and they know the contract, no matter what, is going to take seven weeks to do, they’re going to build that into their pricing,” he said.

Instead, he said, staff opted to introduce the request-for-proposal process.

“You submit your schedule, you submit your price, and we’re going to score them altogether,” he said. “We may not pick the lowest price if you have the most aggressive schedule, but they’re also held to account on that as well.”