Happy surprise

Bids to rebuild 49 come substantially under budget

Two pieces of good news came out of last week’s tender award for rehabilitating County Road 49:

1. Timeline: Most of the work should be finished by the end of this year, based on the contractor’s schedule.
2. Cost: The project should not cost County taxpayers anything beyond the $8 million they’ve already committed.

THE TIMETABLE
Work is expected to get underway immediately as the contractor begins replacing culverts and waterproofing box culverts, starting at the Skyway bridge and moving south 17 kilometres back to Picton. In about six weeks, crews will arrive to “rubblize” the concrete surface. That is, they will break apart the concrete pavement into small, uniform pieces in place (without removing it), then compact it to create a stable base layer. A layer of gravel will be applied over the rubblized concrete, followed by two layers of asphalt.

This work is anticipated to be completed this year.

Next year, the contractor will return to apply a third layer of asphalt and seed the shoulders and ditches. They will return again in 2028 to redo the line painting.

Mayor Steve Ferguson praised the schedule with a “hallelujah”, but turned quickly to the potential challenges of heavy-duty road construction on a main artery during the thick of the tourism season.

“The signage on the 401 had better be clear,” urged Mayor Ferguson.

One lane will remain open during construction, according to Project Manager Garrett Osborne.

THE MONEY
The more surprising bit was the cost of all this work. Readers may recall the most recent estimate for this project was $52.3 million, and that the province had committed up to $44 million toward this total.

When construction bids were revealed last week, however, the low tender was $18.7 million plus taxes. It was a happy, but perplexing discovery.

“How did it go so far off?” asked Councillor Brad Nieman.

Project Manager Osborne admitted that the project and budget estimates may have been confusing. Essentially, a large project comprises various components, of which construction is just one, Osborne explained. And when applying for grants, they ensure that all project costs, plus a contingency amount, are covered in the proposal.

He further noted that the County had already committed $8 million for a kilometre of the work closest to Picton. The urban kilometre includes underground waterworks infrastructure.

He noted other uncertainties that compelled the County to ensure a large cushion. He cited trade concerns with the US specifically. Ever-changing tariffs and barriers made it difficult to estimate the availability and cost of specialized rubblization equipment required to do the job. He said the equipment is hard to find, and as a result, the County has had limited experience on which to base its estimates.

“There was also uncertainty regarding how contractors would ultimately stage and price the rubblization operations,” wrote Project Manager Osborne to the Times. “ For example, it was unclear whether contractors would plan to bring the equipment in for a single construction season, over two seasons, or spread across three years. The longer the operation is stretched out, the greater the associated mobilization and demobilization costs, which can significantly impact overall pricing.

“I would also add that, thus far in 2026, we have seen very competitive bid pricing on most of our infrastructure projects, so we believe that likely contributed to the lower price on both the urban and rural projects.”

It appears a mix of factors lined up in the County’s favour. He noted that it is likely there will be more than enough provincial dollars to complete the project.

Sadly, any surplus funds unspent on 49 cannot be used elsewhere in the County.