One year later: We still don’t know the cost or who is paying for LRT Dome

 

It has been just over a year since the LRT dome in downtown Kitchener was taken down.

The 75 metre long heated structure was built on King Street between Moore Avenue and Victoria Street.

Construction began in early January 2016 to allow for complicated work along a section of track to be completed during the winter.

At the time Grandlinq said the project would cost between $1 Million and $2 Million, but now, more than a year later, we still do not have an exact price tag. We also do not know who will be paying for the project.

According to the Region of Waterloo and Grandlinq, the price and payment plan are part of ongoing negotiations.

Thomas Schmidt, Region’s Transportation and Environment Commissioner, says determining a final cost has nothing to do with the physical structure itself.

Schmidt says they need to determine how much was spent on labour during that intensified work period.

“There are costs related to acceleration where they (Grandlinq) would have a supervisor or management staff working on this project that they did not anticipate, so some of the cost are relatively easy to lay out. There are others costs where we might have questions, we might say that person was going to be at the job site anyway’s, why would we pay for that?”

Additionally, the Region and Grandlinq are still trying to determine who is at fault for the delays in the area.

The dome was built over the King Street grade separation near the Victoria intersection. Its construction was highly detailed and required King to run under the existing train tracks.

“Regardless of the final cost, what is the Region’s portion? Is the Region responsible for all of it? None of it? Some of it? That is all part of the open discussion.”

Schmidt adds, ‘essentially if the Region did not cause the delay should the Region be paying for it?’

In the end, Schmidt says they believe the dome was worth the price, whatever it ends up costing.

Schmidt adds Grandlinq’s decision to build the dome was to avoid higher costs down the road if the project was not finished on time.

He says, when you are dealing with projects that cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars and employ hundreds of people, delays can mean serious cost overrun.

“For a while Grandlinq had over 200 staff just working on design and contract administration, so if you keep those staff on for an extra month because the project has been delayed there is obviously a significant cost.”

The Region says work in the King and Victoria area is progressing well and hope to lay asphalt sometime in May or June. When asphalt work is complete, the area will reopen to traffic.