By Patrick Newhook/January 20, 2022
Smallwood Drive will be a bit smoother this summer thanks to savings from the city’s Multi-Year Capital Works Programs.
Mount Pearl held its first city council meeting of the year last week. With a new year comes new possibilities, and in the case of the work on Smallwood Drive it’s because of standing funding agreements from previous years.
Since 2014, the city has had two Multi-Year Capital Work Programs. Councilor Mark Rice presented and explained that these programs are three years long, involve construction from a one to two year period, and have carefully managed budgets.
The new project will repair surface coarse asphalt for Smallwood Drive from Old Placentia Road to Commonwealth Ave.
With the closure of the 2014-17 and the 2017-20 programs some $1,135,445 was transferred to a new funding application.
Mayor Dave Aker applauded the program and commended council and staff for their good work, particularly infrastructure and public works director Gerry Antle.
“I guess we see the birth of the new project, largely, director Antle, from savings that we’ve seen from some of our Multi-Year Capital Works over the past six years,” said Aker.
The Mayor and Deputy Mayor Nicole Kieley pointed out the value of the City’s Asset Management policy, which tracks spending.
“It just demonstrates that when we look at investing in something like a traffic survey or how we see the impact of different developments and work around our city or within our city, asset management is a great utilization of that tool to kind of offset some of those things,” said Kieley.
Director Antle estimated the tender for the Smallwood Drive work will be sent out in a month and that construction will start in June or July.
