Sundre town councillors have approved a slight reduction in the size of the riverbank stabilization project to help keep it within the proposed $2.4 million proposed budget.
During last week's council meeting, councillors passed a motion accepting a tender of $1,269,357 from Downer Construction for Phase II of the riverbank stabilization project. That amount is about $100,000 less than the original Downer tender of $1,372,677.
Riverbank erosion along the west bank of the river has continued unabated since 2005, pushing the river closer and closer to the Riverside RV Park and other infrastructure.
The riverbank stabilization project will see riprap spurs – which are jetties built about 30 to 40 metres out from the riverbank – constructed upstream from Greenwood Campground on the west side of the river.
The original project would have seen a dozen riprap spurs placed in the river to facilitate flood protection. However, a recent revised estimate of the cost of the 12-spur project was $2,612,376, or about $212,376 over budget.
In order to reduce the cost of the project to the budgeted $2.4 million, four or five of the originally proposed spurs will not now be included in the project.
Engineers have told the town the reduction will not affect the integrity of the project, said Ron Baker, director of operational services.
The new reduced-size project will now have a $56,279 contingency for any possible overruns, he said.
Involving the delivery of hundreds of tonnes of rock for the project, Phase I was earlier tendered out to Downer for $761,226.
The town is still awaiting various government approvals before construction on Phase II can get underway.
Project applications have been made by the Town of Sundre to the federal Department of Oceans and Fisheries, Navigable Waters, Alberta Environment, Alberta Transportation, and Alberta Sustainable Resource Development. As of press time Monday, no application approvals had been received.
In February 2011 the provincial government approved a grant of $2.4 million to help fund the riverbank stabilization project.
