PEMBROKE — In 2016 the County of Renfrew benefitted from favourable pricing for hot mix paving products used in the roadwork portion of the Capital Works Program. As a result, the County’s Public Works and Engineering Department was able to extend a number of projects to take advantage of the tender prices, thereby enabling the advancement of some projects that otherwise would have been undertaken in 2017 and beyond.
The extended projects enabled the County to complete an additional 11.6 km of roadwork beyond their planned projects. Further, the projects which were extended included an additional 9.8 km of paved shoulders to support active transportation along the County’s roadways. Originally, the County had budgeted for 5.8 km of hardened shoulders as part of its continuing commitment to add active transportation features to roads as budgets and project parameters allowed.
Chair of the County of Renfrew Operations Committee, Councillor Michael Donohue said “By adding 15.6 kilometres of hardened shoulders this year, the County of Renfrew has moved forward in both providing residents with infrastructure benefitting our community in terms of Active Living, and attracting an ever growing and diversifying tourism community. The investment in hardened shoulders delivers a message of ‘share the road’, while increasing the longevity of the roadway. Paved shoulders decrease maintenance requirements by preventing the breakup of the road edge by large vehicles.”
It is also to be noted that even with the extended project limits, the continued changes in asphalt cement prices throughout the year, from the date of tendering to the date of construction, resulted in a further cost saving to the County’s roadwork program of approximately $306,700.
