Summer is only officially starting, but the City of Timmins is already planning for cold weather.
At its June 15 meeting, Timmins council gave the green light for a two-year extension of the winter road maintenance contract with EMCON. The total contract is for just over $2 million. Over the last four years, the city's average winter maintenance cost is $1.02 million.
“Our original contract outlined the requirements for the extension for either two one-year extensions or one two-year extension. We’ve been happy with EMCON’s services and in consultation with them have decided to move forward with the two-year extension option,” George Guppy, public works manager, told council.
When the Ministry of Transportation downloaded the maintenance of local highways to the municipality in the '90s, the staff report said the city started requiring a contractor for 24/7 winter maintenance operations of class 1, 2 and 3 roads.
The roads serviced under the contract are the Connecting Link from the tracks in Porcupine to Kamiskotia Road, Laforest Road, Airport Road, Theriault Boulevard, Lafleur Drive, Shirley Street from Riverside to Lafleur, Kamiskotia Road, Municipal Road, Frederick House Lake Road, Ross Avenue and Jubilee Avenue.
For the contract, the operating rates — $81.76 — is set by the municipality and the contractor bids on a standby rate to provide the service.
With an estimated 8,708 hours of work using five trucks over the next two years, the estimated cost is $711,966, or $355,983 per year.
There are also 1,856 standby days. The standby rate is $600.88 and there's an $80 per hour operating rate.
In addition to the maintenance, Guppy said EMCON proposed adding direct liquid application (DLA).
"DLA is a proactive treatment ahead of a snow storm and is used in colder weather where salt brine may be ineffective. DLAs prevent snow and ice from bonding to the pavement, making plowing operations more effective. It creates safer road conditions quicker with less chemicals used than de-icing and has proven very effective in frost and black ice conditions," he wrote in the report.
The cost for the DLA and pre-wet operations for the contract is $206,890.80. That is based on a standby rate of $487.95 a day for 424 days. The report says there is a potential annual savings of $110,000 due to decreased salt usage.
