Bowman promises working group to revisit 24/7 road construction, improve communication around projects

Brian Bowman pledged Fridayto createa construction industry working group that, among other things, would take another look at the possibility of bringing 24/7 construction to Winnipeg roadwork if he's re-elected on Oct. 24.

In a statement, the mayoral candidatesaid the group would also be tasked with advising city hall on ways to extend an early tendering process for local roads and improve communication with those affected by road work.

The idea of night construction has been floated in the past byBowman and some city councillors.

The incumbent said he wants to revisit it.

"In many other cities, when many of us travel, we see 24/7 construction. Typically that's on freeways. We don't have major freeways in the city of Winnipeg," he said.

People living in residential areas could be consulted about the idea of putting up with construction noise at night, Bowman said.

Rival mayoral candidate Jenny Motkaluk said there areproblems with 24/7 construction.

"First of all, we have noise bylaws. We probably wouldn't be able to implement it anywhere near any residential areas, for starters. But secondly, the companies that do the construction work are going to be faced with [human resources] concerns," she said before speaking to seniors at a home on Dunkirk Drive.

Costs outweigh benefits: Construction association

Chris Lorenc with the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association likes the idea of a working group.But he doesn't support 24/7 road work on a regular basis.

"You cannot interfere with people's quiet enjoyment during the hourswhere they're typically asleep, thinking somehow, wistfully, you're going to accelerate construction 'cause you won't," he said.

"We can't get access to our supplies, we can't get access to our aggregates, to our oils, to inspectors. We'd have to pay premium wages, we'd have to pay overtime wages these are all costs that the taxpayer is expected to pay without any benefit."

Instead, Lorencsaid roads could be fixed 20-25 per centfaster if they were completely shut down during construction instead of allowing rerouting.

"Is it an inconvenience? Yes," he said. "When you go to the dentist, is it an inconvenience? We do it because there's a good reason for it."

'Price matters' on construction projects: Bowman

Without naming names, Bowman also said other mayoral candidates have proposed a tendering process for roadworkthat will make the construction company bidding on projects more important than the cost of the work.

In a Sept. 18campaign announcement, Motkaluk said the lowest price should not be the solequalification when selecting contractors for designing, planning and construction work. She said the city should consider the merit of each bid.

"I wantWinnipeggersto know that when it comes to construction projects, price matters," Bowman said in Friday's release.

"When price mattered less than who was bidding on city construction contracts, we ended up with police investigations. We cannot allow that approach back into city hall," he said in an apparent reference to construction of the city's downtown police headquarters.

Bowman also repeated his suggestion thathis opponents in Winnipeg's mayoral racecould put $976 million worth of road work in jeopardy.

"Fixing roads continues to be a top priority of Winnipeggers, but unfortunately the six-year plan to invest record funding into repairing our roads continues to be under threat from candidates unwilling to commit to it and unwilling to disclose a plan to support it," the mayoral candidate claimed in a release.

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"Not only do I remain committed to this plan, I've also been open with voters about how to fund it."

The 2018 Winnipeg civic election will be held Oct. 24.

With files from BartleyKivesand Laura Glowacki