When will they start the Queen St. reconstruction?

Section of Queen St. from Pim to Bruce is set to be rebuilt this year

The Queen-Pim intersection is to be reconfigured to serve as a gateway to the city core. This design rendering, which is subject to change, shows three public art installations there Supplied image

The controversial reconstruction of Queen Street between Pim and Bruce is scheduled for this year, but so far there's been no announcement about when construction will begin.

SooToday reached out to city hall to see if anyone there could provide us with an update.

We didn't get much, but we did catch some tiny scraps of news about the project.

"[The] schedule of Queen Street will not be known until a contractor is selected," said Carl Rumiel, the city's director of engineering.

"We anticipate it starting after the May long weekend. Duration will last into the fall," Rumiel told us.

After some controversy over costs, council decided late last August to break the $18-million job into three pieces.

Councillors agreed to start work this year, trying to rebuild Queen from Pim to Bruce at a cost no greater than $6 million.

If that stretch of road can't be rebuilt for $6 million, and if funding applications are insufficient, council directed that boundaries of the project be reduced to fit a $6 million cap.

The two remaining portions of Queen Street are to be started no sooner than every two years following the 2024 reconstruction work.