Additional costs coming to Municipal District of Taber for Highway 3, 864 traffic lights

Poll

Should the federal government be allowed to deal directly with municipalities without interference?

• YES
• NO

View Results

 Loading ...

Recent News →

• Provincial budget highlights identified: MLA Hunter
• Provincial grant solves “unfair” funding anomaly for RCMP-contracted policing in Coaldale
• Jets return to southern Alberta for matchup against the Okotoks Dawgs
• Taber WHAM finishes in bronze medal position
• Horizon School Board meeting brief from March 25

Recent Blog Posts →

• From the Archives of Western Newspapers
• From the Archives of Western Newspapers
• From the Archives of Western Newspapers
• From the Archives of Western Newspapers
• From the Archives of Western Newspapers

By Cole Parkinson
Taber Times
cparkinson@tabertimes.com

With the coming traffic lights at the intersection of Highway 3 and Highway 864, the Municipal District of Taber council has been notified the original projected cost may be a little higher than anticipated.

During the council’s regular meeting on May 1, councillors had the chance to discuss the issue.

The original agreement had financials for the lights project set at $750,000 with a three way split between Alberta Transportation, the Town of Taber and the M.D. of Taber.

Upon further inspection from Alberta Transportation, though, the project cost has jumped up.

The biggest reason for the adjusted totals comes from Canadian Pacific Railway interconnection.

“When we had our meeting in Edmonton, one of the questions we asked the regional director was does this include CPR and everything with CPR? So not get into a Broxburn (Road and Highway 3 lights) scenario. He said it did. The person in charge of this project is off right now so they have another person looking after it and he doesn’t really know what’s going on or the full extent to what happened prior to. He’s saying there is going to be another charge of $99,000 for the CP Rail connection,” said Jack Dunsmore, director of planning and infrastructure for the M.D.

Now the estimated total cost for the project comes in at $825,183 with another $50,000 or so of that total coming from additional engineering.

Split three ways, all involved parties are looking at around $275,061.

M.D. staff though advised council to budget a total of $285,000 for the project just to be safe.

While the inflated cost was the last thing council wanted to see, they still want to see the project go forward as they have been trying to get it off the ground for quite some time.

“At the same time we don’t want the project to not go,” said Brewin. “The feeling is we go ahead with it even if it costs a little bit more.”

All councillors agreed with Brewin in regard to moving forward with the project even with the higher costs.

The project is still expected to be tendered this year but no specific timeline has been set just yet, though the process could move relatively quick.

In the letter from Phillip Luchka, a construction engineer with Alberta Transportation, he states that he is “planning to have the tender package in Edmonton by Wednesday (May 9)” and he “will be asking them to tender it as soon as they can.”

A motion was made to accept it as information and was passed unanimously.

Get More The Taber Times →