The saying goes that construction season dominates three seasons in Canada and local residents might see that on several roads throughout Tiny Township this year.
Two tenders were awarded regarding township roads during the recent committee of the whole meeting for dust suppression and the township's road reconstruction program.
An award for $155,620 was given to Da-Lee Dust Control Ltd. from Stoney Creek, coming in just over the 2023 operating budget of $150,000 for dust layer materials.
Dust suppression is placed on unpaved roads to limit the spread of fine airborne particles which affect visibility and cause a nuisance to those nearby, and which could also reduce stability on roads which increases maintenance costs.
Within the tender was 180,000 litres of calcium chloride solution for spreading on gravel roads on an as-needed basis, with 265,000 litres of solution to be delivered to the public works holding tanks.
During the meeting, Coun. Kelly Helowka inquired how such products could be measured from a tendering perspective. Public works director Tim Leitch assured Helowka that the set capacity of the tanks allowed for monitoring of the solution.
“There’s a combination of two different types of applications,” explained Leitch. “One is they apply it on the long, big roads – so they have a large truck and we monitor how much they put in, how much they put down.
“And we can monitor… what goes in our tanks is what we use for our smaller roads that we apply; and also through construction projects. We use a 50-50 mix through construction so that there’s dust control while we put pavement down," Leitch explained.
Mayor Dave Evans humourously mistook the dust suppression tender as “the picker-upper people” to the amusement of council and staff, which Leitch corrected happens by sweepers at the end of the winter season.
A second tender regarding the reconstruction of various roads throughout Tiny Township in 2023 was granted to Georgian Paving Ltd. of Midhurst for $2,828,000 excluding HST.
Over 17 kilometres of roads are scheduled to be pulverized, have old culverts replaced, have gravel added to their base with a new surface applied, and other additional procedures.
The projects are:
- Champlain Road from 1667 Champlain Road to Clearwater Crescent
- Marshall Road from Mertz Corner Road to Downer’s Road
- Tiny Beaches Road North from 1632 Tiny Beaches Road North to Pine Needles Road
- Tiny Beaches Road North from Trillium Lane to Conc. 14 W
- Dakota Drive
- Seguin Crescent
- Methodist Point Road from Dorion Road to Conc. 17 E
- Tall Pines, Elm Lane, and Forest Circle
- Meredith Court
- Baseline Road from Conc. 4 E to Conc. 6 E
- Conc. 17 E from Andrew Drive to Champlain Road
Nearly all projects were tendered well under budget by Georgian Paving with just two slightly over budget – Seguin Cres. and the Tall Pines, Elm Lane and Forest Circle projects – and as a result the remaining funds are to be used to cover Tiny’s portion of the HST as well as several other items.
A new general services agreement developed by Tiny staff was added to the tender process along with the removal of an opt-in option for asphalt cement pricing adjustment; more often than not, the township found added costs would be incurred due to the index cost of the product rising during the times paving happened. Removing that adjustment added risk for contractors, but provided staff with reduced surprises as the year progressed.
Staff noted in the report that possible upgrading of the Tall Pines, Elm Lane and Forest Road project to a hot mix asphalt could occur depending on cost negotiations, as well as an additional project within Winterset Road.
Reports for the dust suppressant and road reconstruction project tenders can be viewed within the agenda page located on the Tiny Township website.
Archives of council meetings are available to view on Tiny Township’s YouTube channel.
