While it’s almost a year late, construction on the Thunder Bay Expressway should be complete by the end of the season the Ministry of Transportation’s operations manager says.
The $23 million contract for work from north of Arthur Street to south of Balsam Street was supposed to be completed last September. MTO operations manager Dave McColl said the construction should be completed soon.
"They’ll go as long as they can as long as the weather holds," Mcoll said Wednesday afternoon near the bulk of remaining construction near Red River Road.
The two north ramps onto the expressway from Red River Road were closed Tuesday and will remain that way for a week while work gets underway. The rest of the work, which includes paving, painting and lights on the Oliver Road, Harbour Expressway and John Street intersections is pretty much complete McColl said.
"It’s really Red River Road the rest are sort of minor cleanup," McColl said.
The general contractor, Carillion Canada, will face financial penalties for each day over the September 2010 completion date that work continues. McColl wouldn’t say how much money that would be.
"Carillion’s just as eager as us to get it all finished," McColl said.
Local contractors and workers made up 60 per cent of the construction.
