With our long-time partner, Taggart Construction Ltd., ICONIX Waterworks completed a complicated road reconstruction in Picton, located in Ontario’s Prince Edward County.

Bustling with visitors in the summer, when you enter Prince Edward County you take a step back in time. Known for its world-class parks, wineries, and destination towns like Picton, The County has a thriving tourism industry.

“We had approximately one million visitors this year,” said Emily Cowan, Executive Director at the Prince Edward County Chamber of Tourism and Commerce.

Boasting more than 35 culinary, arts, and cultural events throughout the year, Picton is the region’s largest and busiest municipality, offering something for everyone who passes through. Visitors enjoy live theatre, historical architecture, views from the harbour, and shopping along the specialty shops that line its Main Street.

In 2015, the County put forward a plan to give Main Street Picton a makeover, replacing sidewalks, curbs, lighting, and crosswalks. It would also include major infrastructure upgrades like replacing sanitary sewer systems and a 60-year-old watermain. This would be a major disruption to businesses along the construction route, but the project was long overdue.

“As the road came up and people saw the state of the infrastructure, no one could argue it needed replacing,” said Emily.

The tender for the project, which was approved in late 2015, was awarded to Taggart Construction. Taggart chose to partner with ICONIX Waterworks to supply the PVC pipe, fittings, hydrants, and service fittings and connections to the buildings for the sanitary systems and the watermain.

“With ICONIX, we always find the pricing is at the right level for the job,” said Doug Haight, General Manager for Taggart Construction. “We’ve found that in these types of reconstruction jobs, where you run into all sorts of unknowns, that ICONIX is best at having the parts we need in stock, or can bring it in quickly.”

“Having a market leader like Taggart as one of our long-time partners has allowed us to be involved in complex projects like this reconstruction,” said Tony Codispoti, Vice President of ICONIX Waterworks, Canada. “We’ve had great success working together to diversify our products and expertise as we've grown over the years.”

No project is without its challenges, and for this one, timing was critical. Although there was a one-year construction window, there was also a planned two-month suspension of construction for July and August. This would allow local businesses to take advantage of The County’s peak tourism traffic, but would give Taggart two short windows for completion.

“Picton, for a small town, has an unbelievable tourist season, where the streets are packed from morning to night,” said Doug. “We knew when we bid on this project that a pause in July and August was part of the contract as a requirement from the municipality.”

Work started in the spring, as the replacement of infrastructure meant installing temporary water services, which couldn’t be done in freezing weather conditions. Despite the number of steps and the sheer volume of the project, the first phase of construction was completed in June, making Main Street fully accessible to the public.

Throughout the project, Taggart worked with municipal staff and the Picton BIA to keep an open line of communication for feedback as the project progressed. A scheduled meeting each Friday morning let business owners know where construction would be the next week, and what work was taking place. Blue hats positioned at either end of the site informed passersby to where they could use the sidewalks, and how to access businesses along the way.

“Taggart were above and beyond,” said Emily. “They were friendly and helpful, and got involved in the community.”

The project resumed in September and was completed December 9, 2016. An official re-opening of the Main Street was celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony on November 27, 2016.