Good project management led the roughly $1.5-million project to reconstruct 10th Street West to come in about $192,000 under budget, said Sundre's administrator.
"It's clear that it was managed quite well," said Dave Dubauskas.
"Hats off to (operations manager) Jim Hall for the good management that he's done on that project," he said.
Additionally, tackling the project in one phase, which had originally been laid out in three phases, and getting the work done before the snowfall also provided savings, he said.
The work completed included water and wastewater services, asphalt resurfacing and the installation of a conduit for the future addition of fibre optic infrastructure.
The cost of the project, which had been budgeted at about $1.5 million, was entirely covered by grants and a contribution of almost $330,000 from Mountain View County, said the administrator.
Once the project's tenders were received, there was already an indication the work could potentially be completed under budget, but if a project is not managed properly, cost overruns drive up the price in the end, he said.
Construction started late in September, and was done in about six weeks.
"The project turned a deteriorated industrial dirt road into a modern road providing access to Sundre's new South West Industrial Area," wrote Jonathan Allan, economic development officer, in a press release.
"Major improvements consisted of ensuring the road was extra wide to allow for two large ëSuper B' transport trucks to pass each other safely and unimpeded. The road was also made to withstand the weight associated with heavy loads. As a full service road, water and wastewater force main system infrastructure was installed, thus preparing the entire South West Industrial Area located within Sundre Town limits for further development."
While the road has long since been completed, there still remains some landscaping work to finish, but that is expected to cost less than $10,000, Allan wrote.
"The Town of Sundre would like to express its appreciation to businesses affected during the course of construction. As a result of this new road, the Town of Sundre is now well prepared to welcome the development of the modern commercial industrial park planned for the South West Industrial Area."
The leftover funds are destined to be used on other infrastructure projects. The Town of Sundre has approximately $60 million in infrastructure debt that it must fund over the next 25 years, said Dubauskas.
"Any funding that we can put in the piggy bank is helpful."
Town officials have to be aware of the condition of the municipality's assets like roads and underground services that age and wear out over time, eventually needing to be repaired or replaced, he said.
Roads and sidewalks are easier to keep tabs on since they can be easily visually inspected, but underground infrastructure is a bit more challenging to stay on top of, he said, adding officials want to coordinate any work that has to be done beneath the surface with repairs that have to be done on the ground.
"We don't want to pave a road only to rip it up and replace pipes," he said.
Next on the town's radar for reconstruction is the northern part of Centre Street. Officials will be looking more into that project next year, but may begin a preliminary investigation this year, he said.
The administrator told the Round Up that he's happy with the town staff's proactive approach in taking care of Sundre's infrastructure. Planning and preparing to repair infrastructure rather than reacting as it breaks down helps to ensure the best use of funds, he said.
"We have to coordinate plans so we use our money best."
There is more organization involved in being proactive, but the payoff in the long-term is saving money and headaches. Running a municipality is not all that different from maintaining a house ó a homeowner can either wait until the roof leaks and incur additional repair costs or instead stay on top of replacing the shingles before they deteriorate to that point, he said.
