A Burnaby road construction project that area residents have called “unending” needs more than $4 million in additional funding to complete.
A City of Burnaby staff report outlined the budget increase for the Broadway Street improvements project, which involves a series of upgrades between Bainbridge Avenue and Underhill Avenue, just south of the Burnaby Mountain Golf course and north of Lougheed Highway.
The staff report says an extra $4,158,774.33 is needed due to discoveries made during the course of constructions, including issues involving storm sewers, and this has led to parts of the project needing to be redesigned.
“This contract increase … is required to resolve issues that were identified through the course of construction,” says the report. “During construction, it was discovered that some third party utilities were not installed as per their as-built record drawings. Construction of the Broadway upgrades could not continue without significant re-design of the utilities. During the excavation, it was discovered that a number of properties between Duthie Avenue and Philips Avenue have been discharging storm water to a ditch, so an additional storm sewer on the north side of Broadway had to be installed to catch these storm connections. Also, the extension of 60 metres of storm main between Bainbridge Avenue to Duthie Avenue was added to the project.”
Residents who live on Broadway in the construction zone have expressed anger about the project and how long it has taken. The residents previously had to live through the lengthy ForisBC gas line project, followed by more than a year of construction by the city.
Some residents had made upgrades to their properties after the FortisBC project was completed, only to see those changes removed by the city.
“Significant residential private hedges, landscaping and retaining walls within the road right-of-way was removed, and residents have requested replacement (confirmed by Council) to gain back the privacy and beautification,” says the report.
At one point, the city told residents it was stopping the project due to the issues involving the redesign of the utilities due to what was discovered during construction, with a promise that it would be finished at a later date. Area residents pushed back and met with city staff, and the project has since continued.
“The city’s incompetence is staggering, not to mention a complete lack of respect and regard to our quality of life,” Broadway resident Sam Clark told the NOW in July 2021, calling the project “unending.”
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
