WHITE ROCK - A delay in roadwork along Marine Drive won't cost taxpayers much, and won't threaten the upcoming Tour de White Rock bicycle race.
That was the gist of a report to council Monday by director of engineering and municipal operations Greg St. Louis updating it on the Marine Drive roadwork.The delay came after crews working on the road struck and broke a water main, which are controlled and overseen by the city's water operator EPCOR. After some back and forths, EPCOR agreed to replace the water main, which was originally scheduled for replacement in 2016 and authorized the city to commence work on the project.Asked if the delay was due in part to the recent civic worker strike, St. Louis said the job action did not impact the project's schedule."We wanted to be finished in June but then we took on the water main," he said.Chalking the delays up to just the watermain, St. Louis said despite the additional work they would be getting everything done in time for the Tour de White Rock bicycle race, set for July 13."We should be paving next week and it will not interfere with the tour," he said. "It will be right on time and it should be no problem getting the work done by then."EPCOR had planned to replace the water main in 2016 as part of its regularly scheduled maintenance. They had declined a chance to do any work when the city began the process of tearing up the road earlier this year, but after the contractor struck a water main, EPCOR agreed to move the replacement up two years.The 80-metre long replacement is estimated to cost between $550,000 and $600,000, which will be paid for by the city and later reimbursed by EPCOR. The cost to city would be around $25,000."Just to summarize, this is no cost to the city. There might be some minor expenses but not much, it's mostly EPCOR and the contractor that will be paying for all of this," said Baldwin.cpoon@thenownewspaper.com