August 21, 2008

THE WINDSOR STAR

A new border crossing at Windsor, planned for completion in 2013, is intended to reduce the large traffic queues now customary at the Ambassador Bridge.

Province assembles engineering team to study Windsor border crossing

DON PROCTER

correspondent

The new Windsor Crossing planned for completion in 2013 couldn’t happen at a better time for the city, considering the current woes of Windsor’s auto manufacturing sector.

But while the big cable-stayed bridge and associated highway approaches could shift into gear possibly next year, one of the big unanswered questions is how it will be tendered and financed. The province has assembled a team of engineers called Windsor BIG (Border Initiatives Implementation Group) to deal with the execution of issues such as drawings, financing and tendering.

“We’ve heard that there may be some kind of P3 public/private partnership for the tender of the plaza and the bridge,” says Jim Lyons, executive director of the Heavy Construction Association (HCA) of Windsor.

That’s not surprising, but Lyons isn’t sure that approach (also known as Alternative Financing and Procurement) is such a good idea for the balance of the work, which primarily consists of the Windsor-Essex Parkway.

HCA members favour a traditional tendering approach, he says. Their concern is that an AFP package won’t “lure” as many local and provincial contractors to bid on the project.

Breaking the $1.6 billion parkway project up into five or six packages would encourage competitive bidding and give local, Ontario and national contractors a chance to form partnerships to get the work done on time and within budget, he says.

“If you get into big consortiums (through AFP) I don’t know if we here in Windsor are going to be able to take advantage of as many subcontracts.”

Furthermore, he says the AFP model is a more complex process, requiring more input from various organizations. That could bring up the price. “People don’t provide their input for nothing.”

Lyons says traditional tendering methods have proven to beat provincial estimates on highway projects in the past. Take recent construction contracts on Hwy 401 as an example. Traditional tendering shaved 5-6 per cent off the province’s estimated costs for the work. Lyons credits the savings with the “very competitive bidding” process.

Lyons hopes to meet with Windsor BIG soon to make a case for traditional tendering assignments for the parkway construction.

Construction will get off to a good start on the crossing because both the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) Loc. 624 and the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Loc. 793 recently signed four-year collective agreements that won’t expire until April 31, 2012.

Lyons doesn’t anticipate labour strife when the agreements come due either. “Our local contractors have a good working relationship with the unions and both parties know that — especially in Windsor’s economic condition these days—it is important to keep the project running.”

He says labour/union discussions will probably start as early as two years prior to the end of the collective agreements to mitigate any potential issues cropping up that could lead to work stoppages.

There still is one loose labour end, however, to tie up. An agreement hasn’t been reached yet with the Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers Union Loc. 880. Some of the local contractors have employees in the union, Lyons says.

The cable-stay bridge is estimated to cost $800 million while the new customs plaza comes in around $200 million. The Canadian and American approach roads to the bridge are tabbed at $1.6 billion, bringing the total for the crossing to $2.6 billion.

The choice of location for the crossing turned out to be what most people expected, says Lyons, noting that of the three options it is farthest away from the residential neighborhoods of Sandwich Township and the plaza site will require little land assembly. “It pretty much boils down to negotiations with the City of Windsor on a fair-market price.”

One of the possible positive economic spin-offs of the crossing is that businesses and residents whose property will be expropriated by the expressway development will need to be looking for new digs. “The big question is: ‘Will all these people reinvest in the community?’”

“The work won’t just affect the heavy construction and civil trades; it will also spill over into the mechanical/electrical and sheet metal trades,” says Lyons.

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