What a difference a year makes, Winkler's North Railway project comes in under budget

The City of Winkler has awarded the tender for the repairs and upgrades to a section of North Railway Street.
    
Mayor Henry Siemens said this project is important for the city. He says they were hoping to get the work done last year, unfortunately, it did not work in the budget and was postponed a year.

This year, Siemens says they adjusted the plan and re-tendred it. and very surprisingly for a construction project, he said it came in under budget.

"So that was exciting already, to start," shared Siemens.

"And now with the fact we need to be fairly quick, in and out of there, because it's still an operational thoroughfare, it's an important thoroughfare for us in the city, and it's also a way for some businesses to conduct business. And they're literally out of business if there's no street."

Siemens says providing the weather cooperates, the contractor has committed to completing the project in 30 working days. That includes tearing out the street, rebuilding it, and getting it back into circulation. 

When they looked at doing the project last year, the city was hoping to do the easterly half, and now they're able to replace the entire street from Highway 32 to Main Street.

"Last year in an attempt to sneak it in and make it work, we found enough money to do about half of it, or a little bit more. And even then, we were not able to make the numbers work."

"As disappointed as we were last year to have that street in as poor a condition as it is, to not be able to do something. And then this year not only to be able to do it, but to have a project coming in under budget. For the last three and a half / four years, it's been every single project that we've announced has come in at the very top, or over budget."

From a business sense, Siemens said the inflationary period we've gone through has been tough to deal with. He says it's also been tough to deal with from a planning sense, and now to have some projects coming in at budget, and this one now below budget, is really encouraging and very hopeful for the future.