Wet weather forced workers off the Boundary Road job site for seven of the 22 working days available last month but the city's manager for the project remains hopeful most of the work will be completed by the end of the year.
Due to the sensitive soils at the location, a night's rain can make the area too muddy to work, said city engineering assistant Jim Litzen.
But he added the contractor went some way to making up for the lost time by increasing the amount of resources put into the project during the days when work could be carried out.
"They did get quite a bit of work done for the month of June, considering," Litzen said.
Last month was the third wettest June on record for Prince George, according to Environment Canada, but the agency also believes the rest of the summer should be closer to normal for this time of year.
Depending on when the snow begins to fall, Litzen said the plan is to have the storm sewers and sanitary mains completed by November so that only the waterlines and the concrete sidewalks are left for next year.
In 2010, Western Industrial Contractors was awarded an $18.7-million contract to build a 6.8-kilometre, two-lane, arterial-grade road connecting Highway 16 East with Highway 97 South to provide the transportation spine for a logistics park east of the airport.
In all, $28 million has been budgeted for the work. The federal and provincial governments are providing $7.5 million each, the city is contributing $6.5 million, of which $5.6 million will be covered by reserves built up in the development cost charge reserves, while $892,000 will be borrowed through the Municipal Finance Authority.
It was originally scheduled to be completed by October of this year, but the extended winter last year pushed the completion date back to the end of the 2013 construction season. In all, 44 days were lost to largely weather related delays last season, Litzen said.
