A bridge to Island Park's going to cost much more than expected. AECOM's Eric Loewen presented an update on their work to council last night, indicating the soil is likely to shift quite a bit, meaning the project will take about two years as they allow the base of the three-lane causeway to settle. His presentation also included some minor changes to better utilize the city owned property, and reduce the need to fill in parts of Crescent Lake to accommodate the new infrastructure.

However, those changes aren't coming cheap. While the initial proposal of the three-lane causeway was estimated to cost $6.5 million--the lowest costing option-- the latest estimates put that closer to $9 million to $10 million. Mayor Irvine Ferris says he's really not surprised to see an increase, but says it's a substantial amount.

"It's a fairly substantial increase, and as the engineers said this evening it's not a final number, he said they're working on that. The reason for that is extra engineering involved, stabilization, and settling. All those things add a cost to it."

With the bridge now set to cost up to $10 million, it's about $2.5 million ahead of the proposal to align the bridge with Tupper Street, and $5 million dollars below the estimate to create a new, full bridge. Despite the increase, Ferris says they're still committed to the three-lane causeway.

"The full bridge option was put out, and at that time it was $15 million. Even with this option, the bridge is still much more expensive. Also, at the open houses this seemed to be the preferred option of the public."

Councillor and Transportation Chair Melissa Draycott also wasn't surprised to see the significant increase in cost estimates. She says while council's clearly hoping for an affordable option, they also need to look at the new causeway as an investment in the city's future.

"As the mayor said this evening, we would also like to have a functional aesthetically pleasing bridge or causeway, to leave to the citizens of Portage for many, many years to come. It's an investment to our skyline, an investment to our community, and going forward we will look at it as an investment."

A final engineering report's expected to be presented to council within the next two months, which will include a final cost estimate. Council has already decided to move forward with the three arched culvert style, but has yet to make a decision as to whether they'll be using roundabouts, or stop signs at the intersections.