By Pepper Parr
June 9th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
The city has been dealing with Metrolinx on the cost and timing of both the Burloak Grade Seperation and Drury Lane Pedestrian Bridge.
Both projects are already included in the City’s capital budget with sufficient funds to cover the required contributions to Metrolinx, assuming the approval of an additional 12-month road closure.
Getting to this point has proven to be an arduous task.
The current situation at the Burloak crossing
The budget for the Burloak grade separation went from $60 million to $177 million – and Metrolinx expected Burlington to pick up a share of the increases.
The cost of the grade separation was to be 50% Metrolinx and 25% for both Burlington and Oakville.
It will be interesting to hear how the city managed to keep the cost at the original number.
Burloak grade separation
• Temporary relocation of utilities April 2023 –March 2024
• Relocation of Burlington Interlock (track work) November 2022 – April 2023
• Temporary Road/Track Detour March 2024 – June 2024
• Bridge Construction August 2023 – May 2026
• Interim Completion June 2026
• Completion of road works June 2027
When completed in 2027 this is what is expected to be in place.
More once Council has completed its discussions later today.
It is simple. Staff and council sold out the motoring/cycling and pedestrian public without communicating their intention to close Burloak Drive for a year. The public open houses held as part of the design process always had Burloak Drive open. Thus some of the savings at what cost to the public.
Doug thanks for this. It seems that the motoring/cycling and pedestrian public are being treated no different than many other tax paying sectors by a Council that believes they have the right to do whatever they wish to do regardless of the legislated transparency requirement. If you are correct, not communicating their intention to close Burloak Drive at public meetings on the subject is no better than claiming they were not allowed to discuss the financial aspects of Bateman due to a regulation. Jim Thomson did his homework on this and we now know there was no regulation that required the silence on the financial aspects rather it was due to an agreement made by the City and Board of Education during the purchase negotiations, which has been common city practice for years, Apparently this over-rules, or so Council believes, the requirement for transparency at this stage of the Bateman discussions!
The consensus seems to be we need the grade separation and we need Bateman to be part of the City properties. However, theCouncil and associated staff around these decisions don’t seem to have a consensus on what a transparency requirement is. and how lack of such can affect the public’s consensus on decisions they are required to be a part of otherwise it is a dictatorship we are living under. Yes we elect Council to make these decisions on behalf of the municipality, but that does not mean we are not to be kept informed on the various aspects of the decisons and have the right to bring to Council’s attention from the lectern where we believe they are going wrong on a particular decision. We have seen in this publication alone there are many in our city who have a great deal of wisdom in their particuar area of expertise and are wiling to share it for the good of all who live in our city.
Yes it will be interesting to learn how the city kept the cost at the original number and who negotiated this deal for them, given their share of the increased cost for the Burloak Grade separation was $29 million. The Burloak Grade separation is a very important project for both municipalities and its delay or loss due to a price increase of this magnitude would have not gone over well.