By Andrew Macdonald
- Pam Lovelace Says ‘Inexcusable HRM Engineers Were Not Aware Of Buried Tramway Prior To Bike Lane Construction In Northend Halifax; Halifax City Hall Faces Untold Additional Project Costs After Tramway Dug Up
Halifax mayoral contender, Pam Lovelace says HRM engineers ought to have known tramway tracks and related infrastructure were buried under Almon Street.
HRM awarded a contract to build a bike lane on Almon Street to Dexter Construction.
HRM budgeted $4.2M for the bike lane, and Dexter has been on the job since the end of May.
HRM engineers did not know a tramway system was buried under Almon Street and that track system, which last saw tramway cars on it in 1949, when the tram system was abandoned.
After the contractor dug up the tramway, HRM will now have to pay untold costs to rebuild the entire section of Almon Street, between Windsor Street & Robie Street.
HRM Mayor contender Pam Lovelace greets a participant at the VIA Rail event at last week’s Halifax Chamber of Commerce mayoral debate.
The Macdonald Notebook presented tough and pointed questions to HRM PR last Thursday. Those questions, including why Halifax City Hall engineers with Public Works did not know about the buried tramway when the contract to build the bike lane was awarded.
Pam Lovelace says HRM engineers should have done their homework and should have known about the buried tramway.
“I am following that issue,” says mayoral candidate Lovelace. “I am also in agreement with some community members that (the tramway tracks) should be preserved because it is a piece of our heritage.”
HRM Engineers should have done their homework and discovered a buried tramway under Almon Street before the bike lane contract was awarded says HRM mayoral contender Pam Lovelace. (The Notebook).
Lovelace did not pull any punches when she suggested HRM engineers ought to have known about the buried tramway.
“It is inexcusable that HRM staff who pulled together this tender and are designing this project did not know the tramway was under the road. I just really find that hard to understand considering this was an important transportation infrastructure that was in place for quite some time,” Lovelace tells The Macdonald Notebook.
“While we look at the acceleration costs and the acceleration of this project, we also see a major delay in the project actually being realized,” adds Lovelace.
“I am very disappointed in the lack of proper records management and the lack of detailed oriented designs, which should have recognized this in the first place.”
HRM Engineers should have done their homework and discovered a buried tramway under Almon Street before the bike lane contract was awarded says HRM mayoral contender Pam Lovelace. (The Notebook).
Lovelace says if HRM Public Works had done their homework and had known about the buried tramway, it might have resulted in a de-listing of the Almon Street bike lane as a priority.
Had HRM known about the tramway, “it may have diverted this from being a priority project due to the high escalation of costs.”
The Macdonald Notebook understands HRM engineers only did five inch core drilling – and that did not lead to the discovery of the tramway. I asked HRM PR about that fact, and HRM PR has not responded, even though I sent questions to HRM PR last Wednesday. (See separate story elsewhere).
“Certainly this is not Dexter Construction’s fault, it is HRM’s fault for not looking at our (tramway) archival map,” charges Lovelace. “We knew that a tramway was on there. You can go to Public Archives & HRM Archives to see the map of where these trams existed and were installed throughout the entire downtown area.”
“It is inexcusable that staff did not do their homework and actually do a detailed design in recognizing that this was a tramway,” adds Lovelace.
HRM Engineers should have done their homework and discovered a buried tramway under Almon Street before the bike lane contract was awarded says HRM mayoral contender Pam Lovelace. (The Notebook).
I asked Lovelace if HRM would have proceeded with bike lane construction on Almon Street had HRM engineers known about the buried tramway.
Lovelace replies to The Macdonald Notebook: “I think if they knew about the tramway they have tried to prioritize another project that could have been done faster and cheaper.”
While the discovery of the buried tramway will add additional untold costs to the original $4.2M budget for the Almon Street bike lane, mayoral contender Lovelace now wonders if other bike lane projects will get delayed because extra funds have to go to Almon Street, to rebuild the road, while digging up the tramway.
“I would suspect that considering their other bike lane projects in the cue that another one or two could have benefited and completed through this project, so rather than Almon Street bike lane getting completed or getting started, we may have had the opportunity to complete two other projects at less cost.”
That concrete block near the excavator is from an old tram track buried underneath Almon Street. A contractor building a bike lane unearthed the tram system’s infrastructure and now the entire road has to be rebuilt to make way for a new bike lane. (The Notebook).
Lovelace is unequivocal that HRM engineers did not do their homework in Almon Street.
“I am disappointed that staff did not do their due diligence and know ahead of time that the tram was there, considering we have the maps, and I think we even have a map (of tram routes) at City Hall that shows where the tram lines were,” adds Lovelace.
“I think it is inexcusable we are just finding out about this now.”
I told Lovelace that my HRM PR questions were presented on Thursday at 9 am and so far to date there has been no comment from HRM PR.
“I would say this is yet another example of the fact that City Hall is broken – just because (HRM PR) do not respond in time, just because they do not have the answers. They ran a program without actually having all of the information and doing due diligence. Is this the best value for taxpayers’ dollars? At the end of the day, it is questionable if staff have not done their job and looked clearly at all of the elements that are engaged and involved in this project.”
“Historical information is easily accessible about where the tramways are buried.”
A dump truck with huge concrete blocks that once supported a tram track buried underneath Almon Street. (The Notebook).
HRM mayoral contender, Pam Lovelace says HRM engineers ought to have known a tramway is buried under Almon Street, only discovered when a contractor building a bike lane dug up the tram on Almon Street. Lovelace says archived maps of the tram system, which operated until 1949 clearly show a tram system buried on Almon Street. (Contributed).
Tramways operated from 1925 to 1949 in downtown Halifax. (Contributed).
Tramways operated from 1925 to 1949 in downtown Halifax. (Contributed).
