Airport Parkway bridge designer fires back at city

The design consultant for the delayed Airport Parkway pedestrian bridge projectis firing back at the City of Ottawa after it was fired earlier this fall.

This summer, professional engineers raised concerns about the bridge's stay supporting system and steel anchorage piece at the top of the tower. The city hired an independent bridge engineering firm, Buckland & Taylor,to investigate the concerns and come up with recommendations.

The city then asked the design consultant, Genivar, to make design modifications, and presented the company with a list of recommendations on Aug. 26.

A meeting to discuss those recommendations was held Aug. 29, Genivar said in a letter to Mayor Jim Watson.

According to last week's city council memo fromNancy Schepers, the city's deputy manger of planning and infrastructure, Genivar's services "were terminated" after "the city lost confidence with them" following "unproductivediscussions" about the recommendations.

But Genivar president Marc Rivard said in his letter to Watson that the Aug. 29 meeting to discuss the recommendations went well.

"...Genivarwas encouraged by the citys willingness to work co-operatively. The city even requested Genivarto start preparing a budget for the redesign," Rivard's letter to Watson states.

Entire project under review

The next day,Rivard says the company was surprised to find out that it was suspended from the project. The official termination letter then came Sept. 5.

The city said last week it plans to sue to recover costs "including but not limited to" any delays, claims, design review changes and construction modifications, the Schepers' memo said.

Meanwhile, an independentreview of the entire project for city council will look at internal and external factors, including the contractor, Louis W. Bray Construction Limited.

The last time the city commissioned such a review was after the sink hole that swallowed a car and driver in Orleans. The same contractor, Louis W. Bray, was cleaning out a storm drain pipe under Hwy. 174 in 2012 when it collapsed later that day.