While there have been obstacles in the way of finishing the reconstruction of 17th Street, City of Prince Rupert officials said the end is near.
“We know this project has taken longer than anticipated due to these unforeseen delays, however we now feel that we are back on track and we anticipate to have the road paved sometime next week,” Richard Pucci, the city’s engineering coordinator, said last week.
While not part of the original scope of work, major breaks on 17th Street water line in 2013 prompted a full road rehabilitation.
“Unfortunately this project has been plagued with delays from the start in December of 2013. We had multiple major water breaks on this street due to the age and fragility of the infrastructure, which forced the Public Works Department to start the rehabilitation in unfavourable conditions,” Pucci said.
At the beginning of July it was estimated the project would be complete within six weeks, however there was another setback.
“We had difficulties obtaining the private sector’s paving capacity,” Robert Long, Prince Rupert’s city manager, explained.
“We still have a substantial paving program which was not completed through no fault of the city, but because we couldn’t get a paving contractor ... to come and actually pave on a timely manner.”
Pucci did not immediately respond to requests for what the project’s final price tag is expected to be.