Mayor Clive Tolley understands residents’ frustrations with the condition of the Thunderbird Viaduct but says arbitration between the city and rail company must finish before major repairs can occur.
City administration provided an update during the recent city council meeting about ongoing arbitration between the City of Moose Jaw and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd., saying there has been “no recent significant progress” in the discussions.
The reconstruction of the Thunderbird Viaduct “remains a significant priority” for city administration, based on the department of engineering services’ 2024 capital budget overview, the report said. However, “progress on this project is contingent on concluding arbitration.”
Following the meeting, the media asked the mayor for his thoughts about how long arbitration is taking.
“I think everybody in Moose Jaw would like to see that Fourth Avenue Thunderbird Viaduct repaired properly, structurally and aesthetically. I’ve been very impatient about that (myself),” he said.
“But we need to let the process go through, and hopefully, in time, we’ll have a settlement that will allow us to have it properly repaired and reopened.”
The media pointed out that the project cost has more than doubled since administration first discussed it publicly in 2020 — going from $11.1 million to $27.6 million — and asked the mayor whether he was concerned about expenses increasing even further.
“Every project that we’ve got is going to go up in price. I think COVID created some supply chain issues, which created an increase in pricing,” Tolley said. “But I think a lot of people in the industry have increased the price without just cause.”
Repairing — or even rebuilding — the bridge is going to require steel, a material whose cost has increased significantly because of major projects happening everywhere, like a new hockey arena in Utah, he continued.
“So, it’s worldwide, the price of steel, and the price of construction is going up constantly. We’re no different than anybody else,” the mayor added. “We’re going to try and figure out a way to budget for it and get it done.”
The discussion turned to the general state of city streets, with the media informing the mayor that several roads had made the top 10 list of CAA Saskatchewan’s annual Worst Roads Campaign.
“I didn’t know that. I thought we escaped that list,” Tolley chuckled.
The mayor said he travels regularly for regional and provincial meetings, and in all the cities he’s visited, all have had problems with streets and roads, as the main problem municipalities face is no money to upgrade infrastructure.
“It’s a matter of being careful when you’re driving. We just talked about reducing speeds. I think you need to reduce your speed when you’re driving to make sure you don’t go through a pothole,” continued Tolley.
“We filled over 7,000 potholes last (year) and all those — plus more — have been reopened.”
Potholes are not something city hall can stop from happening because most are related to the freeze-thaw cycle, he said. However, companies are creating new rubberized materials to build roads and fix potholes, so he hoped Moose Jaw could acquire that technology to create better-quality streets.
City crews worked on Main Street recently repairing the concrete boulevards, while they will spend May and June installing new cast iron water mains and resurfacing the road, Tolley said. So, the city is addressing some problems.
“People are grumpy sometimes about the condition of the roads. And then they’re grumpy about having to go on detours to get around. So I think they can’t have it both ways,” he added.
“We need to fix this infrastructure as we get the budget to do it. And we look at the worst situation as quickly as we can and fix the worst first and then move on.”
The next regular council meeting is Monday, May 13.
