Bridge delays agitated a Fredericton community. Here's what went wrong behind the scenes

When New Brunswick fired an Ontario-based contractor for protracted and costly delays on three major bridge contracts, the company had finally completed work at another bridge in the province. 

And on that one — the rehabilitation of the Marysville Bridge in Fredericton — emails obtained by CBC news indicate tensions behinds the scenes had reached a boiling point with Julmac Contracting Ltd.

A veritable mountain of documents — well over 3,000 pages — reveals how the province's relationship with Julmac worsened as the Marysville project ran into numerous troubles.

At one point, the frustrated contractor called government engineers incompetent. At another, Julmac said it was being "held ransom" by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure.

Julmac Contracting was removed from working on the Mactaquac Dam near Fredericton and the Centennial and Anderson Bridges in Miramichi in mid-February.

Although issues related to that decision are part of legal proceedings, the documents CBC obtained about the work Julmac did on the Marysville Bridge, although a separate project, offer a window into how the company and province interact.

Julmac won the contract in February 2022, for work that included replacing the bridge deck, widening the sidewalk, replacing the bridge joint, and work on the bridge piers. 

The bridge was finished at a cost of $7.9 million in October 2024, just slightly above the original cost estimate but well past the initial November 2023 target date for completion. Delays getting the work done angered local people who faced long waits in their daily commutes. The bridge was reduced to a single lane for much of construction, which spanned three summers.

Last April, CBC made a right to information request for all documents related to the construction and delays at the bridge since work began.

The request was answered nine months later with a package that mostly included emails between DTI engineers and managers, Julmac, and EXP, the architecture consultant hired for the project.  All references to legal advice, contract prices, cost estimates, and names of all non-government employees were redacted.

DTI officials would not talk about Julmac because of issues before the courts, spokesperson Jacob MacDonald said. 

But Julmac president Derek Martin said in an interview that all of the Marysville delays were the fault of the government.

Many issues, including faulty engineering data and problems getting materials, are to be expected for bridge rehab projects, Martin said, and DTI did not agree to the time extensions that Julmac sought.

"Could that job been done a lot quicker? Of course it could be — if DTI would have had a better working relationship with Julmac," Martin said.