Heather Wright

The Independent

It will be mid to late August before the construction between Fletcher and King Street is complete.

Construction on the second phase of the $5.3 million project got underway in June with hope that the first stretch of roadway could be done as early as late July.

Petrolia’s Director of Operations, Mike Thompson says that may have been overly optimistic. “That was originally the preliminary estimate… but the unofficial time is now mid to late August,” he tells The Independent.

“There weren’t necessarily delays; I don’t think they’re behind. I think in part it was wishful thinking. The reality is it’s going to be mid to late August.”

Over the next few weeks, Henry Heyink Construction workers will be stripping down the excess dirt on the road and rebuilding it with granular material before beginning to pave the first phase.

In the meantime, additional workers have been brought in to prepare for the second phase which will repair all the way to Kerby Street. Early this week, crews were setting up  fencing and a temporary water line on the main street. The water work caused problems on Robert Street, leading to the street being closed down for a few hours Tuesday while town work crews repaired them.

Thompson says while the paving of the first phase will take longer than expected, he’s confident the end result will still be good.

“All we really care about is the end date,” he says noting the contract stipulates the contractor have the street reopened by the end of October.

“This year, they’re pretty confident, they are going to hit that date and they have tonnes of people working on it.

“The most important date is the last one.”