County Road 49 tender awarded, construction to begin

By Sharon Harrison
The tender for the major structural rehabilitation (re-construction) of County Road 49 was approved at Tuesday’s council meeting, with work expected to begin immediately.

R.W. Tomlinson Ltd. was the successful lowest bidder at $18,679,000 (plus taxes) – out of five bids received ranging from $18.7 million to $21.7 million – with staff recommending the lowest bid be accepted.

The construction will cover the 17.3 kilometre rural stretch (of the 18.4 kilometre total) of County Road 49 (between County Road 15 and 684 County Road 49), with mobilization to the site to begin immediately.

The work will involve the removal, disposal and replacement of various-sized drainage culverts, removal and replacement of roadside guide rail systems, earth ditching, rubblizing of the existing concrete roadway surface, excavation and grading, granular road base placement, fibre-reinforced hot mix asphalt paving, pavement markings and site restorations.

The contractor’s preliminary schedule indicates that the project will begin by replacing culverts and water-proofing box culverts, starting at the north end by the Skyway Bridge, and the working their way toward Picton.

“Following close behind, about four to six weeks after the culvert replacements start, they will then come through and rubblize the existing concrete in place, and then place a layer of gravel, and then two base layers of asphalt for the entire 17.3 kilometres in 2026,” outlined Project Manager, Garrett Osborne.

“This is going to happen like now, which just happens to coincide with tourism season, so that signage better be clear on the 401, about ‘expect delays’,” noted Mayor Steve Ferguson.

Osborne said the contractor will return in 2027 to begin top soil hydro seeding gravel shoulders, and then the final top lift of asphalt will be placed. “And then in 2028, they will return once again just to basically re-do the line painting.”

A substantial completion date of Nov. 1, 2028 is stipulated in the tender.

“The contractor anticipates completing sub-drain installation, culvert replacements, box culvert waterproofing, concrete rubblization, placement of granular A, and the initial 19-millimetre asphalt lift by the end of the 2026 construction season,” added David MacPherson, Manager of Engineering, in his report.

A minimum of one lane of traffic, operating under alternating directions, shall be maintained at all times the throughout construction period.

Councillor Brad Neiman asked about Picton Terminals getting a new entranceway off County Road 49, asking if that was in this construction project and how it would work. “It would look foolish to have a new road then have it re-constructed again, and if we could not do that, it would be good.”

Chief Administrative Officer Adam Goheen responded by saying, “that is part of the agreement we have that is subject to the [ministerial] zoning order. So, we have no zoning order, we have no agreement with them to build an entrance,” confirmed Goheen.

“That has no bearing on this project at this time; if the zoning order is approved by the minister, then we will go through the plans for that particular entrance.”

Nieman also raised a point about having turning lanes, something he said was brought up at the working group.

“It would be advantageous for the travelling public to have turning lanes at the cement plant and at Miller’s Paving,” expressed Nieman. “So, we are wondering if that is in this construction, if not, seeing how we have extra money, can we not have those turning lanes included?”

Osborne explained that traffic analysis was done at some of the intersections along County Road 49 entrances. “None of them did warrant turning lanes, so they have not been included in the scope. We are not proposing any changes to the current layout of County Road 49.”

Osborne said staff will be undertaking a comprehensive communication and public consultation program throughout the project, including public notices, a public information centre, and on-going co-ordination with residents, businesses and stakeholders.

The provincial government recently announced funding for the 60-year-old concrete road in the amount of up to $44,500,000, which includes a municipal contribution of $7,805,700 for the 1.1-kilometre urban section of the corridor which is being constructed as part of the Picton Main Street Phase 3 project.

The staff report can be found on the corresponding agenda for the May 26 council meeting on the County’s website, along the meeting recording.

Province takes on funding to fix County Road 49