The maintenance, upkeep and replacement of bridges in Red Deer County must be a partnership between the municipality and the provincial government, says Mayor Jim Wood.
Responding to a resolution passed by the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties (AAMDC) at its annual convention, Wood says counties such as Red Deer cannot afford to pay the whole cost of bridge upkeep and replacement without provincial help.
On Nov. 20 the association passed a resolution calling in the provincial government to reinstate funding for the local bridge and resource road programs, both of which have been zero funded for the past two years.
Mayor Wood says the municipality is facing the need to upgrade and repair many of the hundreds of bridges in the region.
“This is extremely important to Red Deer County,” Wood told the Gazette. “Most of our bridges are really old. They were built about the same time and we have $80 million upcoming expenditures for bridges. This is huge for us. We've always shared the cost of replacing those bridges with the province through the (local bridge) program.
“This is a partnership, a really important partnership, that we need to have with the province. It's important not just for our residents and our farming community, but these roads and bridges are also used by the oil industry and this is where the money comes from for our province. We can't stop our economy.”
Asked if municipalities could pick up the shortfalls on their own, he said, “We can't afford to. We've never expected the province to pay for all of our bridges, but at this point in time they are expecting us to pay for them all. I'm optimistic that the province already understands the magnitude of our problem.”
The county has set up a bridge reserve but it won't be enough to cover expected costs, he said.
“We sure don't want to not be able to replace those bridges when the time comes,” he said. Asked if the matter has become a public safety concern, he said, “No, not at this time. If there were safety concerns, we would not allow the public to travel (on those bridges). We've been able to keep up, but on the other hand we know what costs are going to come forward and recognizing that this has to be a shared program with the province in order to be viable.”
Wood's comments echo those of Mountain View County reeve Bruce Beattie, who also says the programs needs to be funded.
“The message is the province needs to come back to the table and say we support infrastructure within rural Alberta, (that) we support rural Alberta and therefore we are going to fund the bridge program so we don't end up with very significant infrastructure deficit beyond our road system,” said Beattie.
"This is extremely important to Red Deer County."Jim Wood, Red Deer County Mayor
