Estimated cost of Red Hill Valley Parkway inquiry now as high as $20M

The expected cost of an inquiry into Hamilton's Red Hill Valley Parkway (RHVP) has ballooned to as much as $20 million.

The city has already racked up more than $11 million in costs, and that price tag is only expected to rise as the probe continues in the new year, says a report presented to city council's general issues committee on Wednesday.

The current dollar figure has already hit the high end of initial estimates, which suggested the inquiry would cost the city between $1 and $11 million.

Now legal staff calculate the inquiry could total between $18 and $20 million, the report says.

The inquiry is set to examine how a damning report about the RHVP stayed buried for six years.

That 2013 Tradewind Scientific report showed friction in some areas of the highway fell well below U.K. safety standards. There are no similar standards in North America.

The city said in 2018 that the report was only found in a locked computer folder after the city hired a new engineering director.

A class action lawsuit seeking more than $260 million has also been proposed, though it is separate from the inquiry.

It's expected the cost of the inquiry will "increase significantly" as it moves toward the hearing stage, which has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The probe has also been plagued by slowdowns during document collection, which Commissioner Justice Herman Wilton-Siegel previously said left him disappointed.

The judge will tackle 24 questions, including who saw the report, why council wasn't told and if drivers were put at risk.

Between $6 and $7 million in added costs are anticipated between November and August 2022, the city report says.

Staff also propose hiring a communications officer to support the inquiry for a year, adding another $115,000 in cost.

The costs so far have been covered by Hamilton's tax stabilization reserve, according to the report.