As construction costs rise, some municipalities look to pause infrastructure projects — if they can

A bridge north of Fergus needs replacing, but Centre Wellington township councillors have voted to pause the project for now. 

The bridge over Irvine Creek on First Line was built in 1922 and closed in July 2018 "due to severe structural deterioration," the township says.

The township had put the replacement of the bridge out for tender, but only got one bid back and the estimated cost was much more than the municipality had budgeted.

Mayor Kelly Linton says it's disappointing to only get one bid because the timeline between putting a job out for tender and getting a bridge built is three years.

"I hope that they can get this back out to tender as quickly as possible. And hopefully it was just a one-off," he told CBC News.

"Hopefully the inflation kind of settles down a little bit. Then we can see better prices in the future, a little bit more competition," Linton said.

Linton said it's always a concern that prices will go up even more, but council rarely moves forward on a project when there's only one bid.

Linton says staff have heard a number of reasons why prices are so high right now. Part of it is the cost of materials is now higher.

But some companies are also having trouble getting workers for their crews. That may also be why only one company bids on the project — if a company can't guarantee enough people to do the work, they may avoid trying to get the job, he said.

What's happening in Centre Wellington is one being felt in Guelph, too. 

Mayor Cam Guthrie said the city is contemplating putting some projects on hold, including bridge work on Speedvale Avenue and a new recreation centre planned for the south end. The city budgeted $80 million for the rec centre project; the lowest bid was just over $121 million.

"Whether it's a rec center or a bridge or a road, if the costs are too much, we can't just shrug our shoulders and just be like, 'Oh, well, we'll just move on it,'" he told CBC News. 

"We have to do the fiscally responsible thing, which is pause and have to re-evaluate how to move forward."

Guthrie, who is also chair of the Ontario Big City Mayors caucus, said he's hearing similar stories from his counterparts around the province.