Questions and Answers

Most projects are designed through the winter months and tendered the following spring. Sometimes, work is already happening in an area and additional work would cause added disruption to residents.

It would be great to have all construction work take place during the summer when people are away on vacation and the children are out of school. However, due to the large volume of construction work throughout the City, completing all the major construction work during the two summer months is simply not feasible. Our projects would be competing against each other for contractor bids and driving up costs.

Although it would be better for commuters if construction took place in the nights, imagine the inconvenience if construction were happening in your neighbourhood all night long - with bright lights, trucks coming and going, and workers calling out commands while you tried to sleep.

Night construction is only feasible for certain jobs. When possible, we do ask our contractors to work at night. But another important consideration is safety. We have to consider occupational health and safety guidelines for crews working through the night.

Where possible, we ask our contractors to try to reduce delays, especially during the morning and evening rush.

Although the City makes every effort to avoid returning to the same street, sometimes this cannot be avoided.

Take for example a multi-year project like Water Street revitalization or the Kenmount Road infrastructure project. These large projects cannot be completed in one construction season. Sometimes they are done in phases.

The City has an asset management plan to make sure that we are not wasteful with construction. So, although it seems like we may have dug up and area, paved it, and then come back next year to dig it up again – there is a plan. The surfacing work, for example may be only temporary to make the road passable until the underground work can be completed.

We appreciate how inconvenient a detour can be, and we encourage our contractors and staff to only have detours in place for the shortest - and safest - time possible to minimize the bother while maximizing worker and public safety.

It's challenging to always coordinate construction so that projects don't overlap when the construction season in this province is so short. 

Also, although construction may be happening near the City, it's not always our work that is happening. Sometimes the job can belong to the provincial government, a public utility company or another municipality. Highways for example, are the responsibility of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Sometimes, work has to happen at the same time, but we do try to coordinate with other organizations and ensure there is a good transportation path through the city.