Title
Funding Request for Preliminary and Detailed Design of Range Road 32, Between Highway 16 and Township 530.
Proposed Motions
1. That Council approve $115,000.00 for Preliminary and Detailed Design of Range Road 32, between Township Road 530 and Highway 16, and
2. That Council direct Administration to fund the first proposed motion from unspent funds within the 2024 Asphalt Surfacing Program.
Body
Administration Recommendations
Administration supports the proposed motions, as presented. Approval of the design work in 2024 will ensure project readiness for 2025 and will provide an opportunity to complete ACP (hot mix) paving along Range Road 32 between Highway 16 and Duffield as one paving project.
Purpose
The funding request provides budget approval to complete design work in 2024 for the portion of Range Road 32 between Township Road 530 and Highway 16 (north section). Completing design in 2024 allows for an early tendering process on a planned 2025 project and provides opportunity to combine two initiatives into one, creating a more desirable project for would-be contractors to pursue. Administration sees this as an efficient and effective way to manage price inflation from recent construction tender pricing.
Summary
Council provided approval to complete ACP (hot-mix) paving along Range Road 32 between Duffield and Township 530 (south section) as part of the 2024-2027 Capital Infrastructure Program. The 2024 budget for the Asphalt Surfacing Program is $3,115,000 in 2024, of which approximately $600,000 was allocated to Range Road 32 (south section). The budget allocated for Range Road 32 (south section) has been largely unspent and could be used to complete the design work in 2024 for Range Road 32 (north section), subject to Council approval.
Detailed design and pre-tender estimates were completed in Q1 2024 for the south section. The updated cost estimate identified that we had under-valued the project when the initial budget was approved and insufficient funding was in place to advance the project forward. Administration elected to defer the project to 2025 to provide opportunity to review overall scope and potentially seek alternative options to reduce cost or create efficiencies.
This project is one part of a two-year plan. Administration intended on completing the south section (Duffield to Township 530) in 2024 and follow up with the north section (Township 530 to Hwy 16) in 2025. Administration revisited the two projects and recommends that completing both segments as a single project may be more enticing to prospective contractors. The higher project value and increased volume of work is expected to generate greater interest in the bidding process and has potential to provide the County with more desirable pricing to complete the work. Combining both projects in 2025 also retains the same project completion timeline as originally planned.
Approval of the proposed motion provides the funding to complete work in advance of the construction tendering process and provides the opportunity for early posting of the work in 2025, subject to Council’s approval of the 2025-2028 Capital Infrastructure Program.
The 2025 program budget that will be presented to Council in the fall will include funding allocations to address 2024 shortfalls and will include updated cost estimating to ensure we can advance both projects forward, subject to Council’s approval of the budget when presented.
Historical Information:
RFD 24-204 was approved by Council on July 10, 2024. This RFD added $380,000 to the 2024 Asphalt Overlay Program budget to complete Range Road 14, Hwy 16 to Twp 534. The original budget allocated to the Range Road 14 project was $980,000. Administration did have a pre-tender estimate prior to posting the project on Alberta Purchasing Connection that was just over $1,300,000. We were optimistic that the pre-tender estimate over-valued the cost inflations and had contingency levels set too high. Post-tendering of work set project value at just under $1,300,000. The final pre-tender estimate was accurate within 5%. To move forward, RFD 24-204 was presented to Council to increase program funding and complete the work at the current market prices. The project has been completed in 2024 within the updated budget value.
Strategic Plan/Policy/Legal/Staff Implications:
Pillar A, Complete Communities - A1; To ensure that County infrastructure meets the needs of residents, businesses and industry.
Pillar D, Responsible Leadership - D2; To strive for organizational excellence in delivering Council services and programs to residents, businesses and community groups.
Financial Impact:
Since this is an approval for reallocation of the 2024 Asphalt Overlay Program funds and corresponding project budgets, there is no financial impact to the County.