Weather speeds up work

A supervisor for the multi-million dollar waterfront development project says warm weather has allowed construction to progress about 50 per cent faster than it typically would in March.

The warmer weather gave construction for the Waterfront Development Project a window of opportunity to try to get ahead of schedule by starting on spring projects. Gary Wood, waterfront construction supervisor, said the warmer weather allowed contractors to start on the water main and storm sewer and finalizing the breakwall.

"In my 25 years in construction this has been the nicest and mildest season I’ve worked in," Wood said. "A normal year we would still be able to get started but we would have to deal with more frost. We are taking full advantage of the weather and we hope the contractors are gaining on the schedule. If things hold and if we progress (far enough), we should gain on the schedule."

Wood said even if they go ahead of schedule, they would not stop or slow down construction. The development project has until March 2011 to spend the stimulus money.

The warmer weather also gave workers a chance to shed their heavy winter clothes. Wood said workers could move around easier without the heavy clothing, which has been a boon to morale on the work site.

However, construction workers weren’t the only ones enjoying the warmer weather. Wood said people have trespassed onto the construction site and caused some mischief, which includes the tossing of a fire extinguisher onto ice near Pier three on Thursday.

He added that it is too dangerous to walk onto the ice so they would have to use a canoe to retrieve the fire extinguisher.

"We are seeing (more people coming out) and it is a concern for us from a safety point of view," he said. "We do want them to come down and see what is going on and we want them to be excited for the project but we need them to do it safely."

The public can view the construction at the north end of the park or check the Facebook group for updates.