BRUCEDALE – Guelph/Eramosa council has awarded a contract for the 8th Line East and Fife Road Rehabilitation projects to Capital Paving Inc at a cost of $1,313,274 excluding HST.
The 2025 capital budget includes separate capital projects for the resurfacing of 8th Line East from Wellington Road 86 to Sideroad 14 (Centre Wellington limit), and Fife Road from Wellington Road 32 to Whitelaw Road (Guelph city limit).
However, as the projects are similar in nature, they were combined into a single resurfacing tender.
8th Line East
According to the report shared to council by public works director Harry Niemi, 8th Line East was last resurfaced over 30 years ago and the pavement condition was classed as “very poor” in a 2024 assessment.
In addition to normal resurfacing needs, 8th Line East has a large transport business, Flash Freight Systems, located in this section of road.
Half-load exemptions have been granted by the municipality prior to the planned resurfacing due to the asphalt nearing the end of its useful life.
However, during the tender preparation, geotechnical recommendations were requested to determine what pavement structure would be required in order to eliminate the seasonal half-load restriction without impacting the useful life of the road.
The recommendation put forth was to increase the asphalt thickness to 130mm from the standard 100mm.
The total cost of the rehabilitation of the road is estimated to be $735,763 – about $4,236 under budget.
Fife Road
Fife Road from Wellington Road 32 to Whitelaw Road was also last resurfaced over 30 years ago, according to the report.
The pavement condition was classed as “poor” in a 2022 assessment and has since seen significant deterioration.
This project was brought forward as a result of the County of Wellington needing a formal detour route during Wellington Road 124 upgrades in 2026.
To make the necessary improvements for a detour route, the rehabilitation design will include increased asphalt width to provide wider shoulders.
The total cost of the rehabilitation of the road is estimated to be $758,062 – about $98,062 over budget. However, that amount will be funded by the county as the total project cost is still less than the upset amount the county allocated for the project.
Tenders
A total of six bids were received prior to the March 25 deadline:
- Capital Paving Inc, $1,313,274;
- Cox Construction Limited, $1,332,883;
- Steed and Evans Limited, $1,442,971;
- GIP Paving Inc, $1,471,787;
- Dufferin Construction Company, $1,838,446; and
- Pacific Paving Limited, $2,462,190.
Council voted unanimously in favour of the additional work on 8th Line East to remove the need for half-load restrictions.
It also authorized awarding the tender for the 8th Line East and Fife Road projects to Capital Paving Inc.
