THUNDER BAY – Federal funding will help the city move forward with repairing the Boulevard Lake Dam, freeing up capital dollars to advance other infrastructure projects.
Through its Disaster Mitigation and Adaption Fund, Ottawa will be putting forward $13.2 million for Thunder Bay. Along with upgrading the dam, that money is earmarked to increase the capacity of six storm main collectors and 29 projects to separate sewage from stormwater systems.
Thunder Bay Superior North MP Patty Hajdu, who made the Friday afternoon announcement in front of where water from the rushing Current River passed through the century-old dam, acknowledged stormwater projects might not be as flashy as other infrastructure but said they are very important.
“They’re not the fun and exciting announcement in terms of tangibly what people can see, but if they’re missing, people really notice,” Hajdu said. “It’s the kind of infrastructure you don’t see but is critical to the well-functioning of communities.”
Efforts by city administration to rehabilitate the Boulevard Lake Dam date back to 2012. Engineering studies found significant concrete deterioration, leading to concerns about the structure’s ability to withstand floodwaters. The project has been delayed by cost overruns and a rejected environmental assessment that was deemed to be insufficient, requiring another review.
The work is expected to include reinforcing concrete buttresses, patching deteriorated concrete, replacing wooden stop logs with mechanical gates, widening the pedestrian walkway deck and improving lighting.
During the municipal budget process, city administration said they were seeking $6 million towards the repair costs of the dam. The exact dollar figure allocated to the dam was not immediately available, as the project cost is still to be determined while the detailed design process continues.
Construction on the dam is expected to take two years, beginning in 2020. The tender for the project will likely be issued later this year.
Thunder Bay is no stranger to significant weather events, said Hajdu, who was displaced from her home for a number of months after the city’s 2012 flood.
“While we’re reducing the amount of carbon we’re emitting, we have to also be realists and understand that as the climate changes, we’re seeing changing events that need mitigation,” Hajdu said.
“Supporting communities to update older infrastructure that wasn’t built with that load intended – the Boulevard Dam is a perfect example – is really, really important to protect the health and safety, and in some cases, the lives of community.”
Thunder Bay mayor Bill Mauro said the federal funding will allow the city to increase the capacity to move forward on the dam, as well as to work on other projects.
Being able to upgrade infrastructure to help prepare for future climate events is good planning, he said.
“The storms are happening more frequently, the intensity of the storms seems to greater than it has been in the past,” Mauro said. “The ability to be prepared and do whatever you can to mitigate the results of major storms, I think it’s incumbent upon councils to ensure they’re doing all they can.”
The four-laning of Junot Avenue between John Street and Walkover Street was included in this year’s capital budget, but that project was contingent upon federal funding for the dam.
Kayla Dixon, the city’s director of engineering, said administration will be presenting a contract to council on Monday night to award that work, which would conclude the decade-long process to expand the Golf Links Road and Junot Avenue corridor.
