By Canadian Press

Groups behind Montreal’s new Champlain Bridge say project will be done on time

Feb 23, 2018 | 11:30 AM

MONTREAL — The consortium building Montreal’s new bridge over the St. Lawrence River said Friday it will be able to deliver the structure by the December 2018 timeline, but the project could cost more than the original estimate.

Members of the consortium, along with representatives from the federal government and the Crown corporation that manages two of Montreal’s bridges, said the new span replacing the Champlain Bridge is 65 per cent complete.

Getting the remaining 35 per cent done on time “is a realistic and attainable objective,” said Daniel Genest, with the SNC-Lavalin-led consortium building the project.

The consortium said it increased the number of workers on the construction site from 650 last summer to 850 in January in order to get work done more quickly and within the scheduled timeline.

No one was able to give details on the extra costs of the project, which had an original price tag of $4.2 billion to be paid by the federal government.

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Ottawa is already preparing for a possible delay by setting aside an extra $10 million to reinforce the aging Champlain Bridge in case it has to remain operational until summer 2019.

That money would be additional to the $43 million the federal government plans to spend to keep the bridge functional until December.

The consortium risks being fined $100,000 a day for the first seven days past the scheduled completion date and $400,000 a day after that.

Chantale Cote of Infrastructure Canada said the precise December deadline for the project is “being discussed.”

The Canadian Press