Paradise approves road work for Glenderek, new Topsail sidewalk

By Mark Squibb

Paradise council has decided to move ahead with roadwork on Glenderek Drive and a new sidewalk along a portion of Topsail Road.
The tender was issued June 6 and included three distinct scopes of work: installation of storm and sewer lines and sidewalk, curb, and gutter, along the west side of Glenderek Drive; construction of a raised intersection at the intersection of Glenderek and Lanark Drive; and construction of a new sidewalk on the north side of Topsail Road from McDonald’s Restaurant to the Mount Pearl municipal boundary. The second of these, the raised intersection, was posited as optional.

The tender closed on June 21, and of four applicants, Dexter Construction Ltd., provided the lowest tender price of $856,970, plus HST.

Council formally approved the awarding of the contract on July 16 by ratifying a vote it had conducted by e-mail earlier in the month. Rather than wait until the next public meeting of council, council voted to approve the contract by email on July 10 so as to not delay the start of construction.

Most of the project’s cost, some $495,400, plus HST, is earmarked for the storm and sewer lines and sidewalk, curb, and gutter on Glenderek.

Deputy Mayor Kimberley Street said the engineering committee recommended foregoing the raised intersection, estimated at about $220,580, plus HST, due to budgetary constraints.

Following the removal of the raised intersection from the scope of work, the contract cost came down to $729,547, HST included.
Councillor Larry Vaters briefly touched on the exclusion of the raised intersection from the contract.

“The plan this year was to tender this as optional work to get the most current cost estimates for budgeting purposes, with the hope that we could find a source of funding to complete it this year,” said Vaters. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to identify any additional funding sources so the plan will be to bring it forward as part of Budget 2025 discussions.”