The Boulevard Lake Dam rehabilitation is now $1.5 million over budget, though the current cost is still lower than the initial tender.
That was the discussion Monday at council when it came to the century-old dam, with Project Engineer Mike Vogrig explaining that the concrete was a big factor adding to the price tag.
“We don’t have a crystal ball, so we have to make some assumptions about the scope of the work,” Vogrig added. “One of the big ones in this particular project for example is that we could re-use the post-tension that was in the dam, but once we exposed it and checked the condition of the concrete, we came to the realization that it wouldn’t be able to post-tension.”
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Vogrig noted it’s not ideal that the project is overbudget, but stresses it will benefit Thunder Bay in the long run.
“Some of the work that had to get changed due to the concretes condition, we had some chip and patch work, and basically the concrete wasn’t in the shape to sustain that so we had to do some full concrete replacements,” Vogrig said. “Basically we now have a newer and more robust product, and typically with concrete you’re not in there doing any major rehabilitation work for another 50 years. Now, there’s other mechanical components such as gates, things of that nature, so there may be more of the maintenance and life cycle of differences.”
The project is expected to be completed by Sunday, October 31, and it does not appear the added price will have any affect on this.
