CALGARY – Monday marked a dubious anniversary for Calgary’s controversial Peace Bridge.
The last day of October signalled one year since the bridge was originally supposed to be completed.
Construction firm Graham Infrastructure had been contractually obligated to have the project complete by October 31st, 2010, but ongoing construction issues have caused major setbacks.
The delays came after a litany of other controversies, from the price of the bridge’s location to the single-sourcing of celebrity architect Santiago Calatrava whose selection was meant as a bold statement about civic design standards.
Councillor Gian-Carlo-Carra goes as far to say the project has been a “most horrendous failure,” and “the fact that it’s been plagued by (construction) issues is a nightmare on top of the original sin.”
When officials first planned the bridge, they assumed construction would take up to 18 months. Plans shown to council, in the initial proposal to Calatrva, and in the city’s internal project charter, all pegged a mid-2011 completion.
However, during the Bronconnier-led council, a confidential report gave it a different due date in 2010 and the contract schedule was set with Graham in November 2009. However, within months the project manager already began to warn about schedule issues.
The opening date has been pushed back three times since due to various challenges in bringing Calatrava’s intricate design to reality. The lengthy delay announced in April came because inspectors flagged deficient welds that traced back to Graham’s steel subcontractor in Spain, which had underbid domestic competitors.
Officials expect the project bill will be over the $24.5-million budget and the city says it plans to fight paying any overruns. Graham had signed a fixed-price contract at $17,995,000, which a construction expert said should ease matters for the city. Council members would have to approve any extra expenditure on the bridge.
The city says there has been some progress made in the past several months and some major work is slated for the month of November. The bridge may finally stretch across the Bow River.
Any temporary pathway detours will remain in place until the Peace Bridge is completed.
With files from Jason Markusoff
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