Mountain View County councillors last week rejected a set of major fixes proposed by a consulting engineer to address frequent washouts on Rge. Rd. 52 north of Water Valley.Instead they opted for the first of five options presented in a report by Matrix Solutions: ìDo nothing Ö Repair when damaged.îìI think we should do nothing ñ that's the cheapest and best solution,î Div. 6 Coun. Paddy Munro said at Wednesday's policies and priorities committee meeting.ìIt's in a flood plain Ö We didn't put the flood plain there,î Munro said. ìWhen the road washes out, spend the $25,000 Ö to redo it and get on with it.îOther options included building a washout or lower the road grade, raising the road, building a berm, or building a second bridge.The consultant's recommended option of building an upstream berm would require about $10,000 for engineering and possibly another $10,000 for permitting, but the actual cost would depend on the results of the engineering study, Ryan Morrison, manager of infrastructure projects and technical services, said.Munro, however, said the cost estimate he's heard for a berm was about $2 million.The option of raising the road would not likely cost as much, ìbut it would be expensive,î Morrison said. And the price quoted last spring for a washout was about $175,000, he said.Deputy reeve Patricia McKean said she would not support a washout because of potential erosion issues.ìI have no problem with doing nothing if we can get it fixed in two daysî after a flood event, she said.McKean (Div. 2) also suggested the county leave in place the abutments for the temporary bridge currently in use, so that another rented bridge could be quickly brought in if the road is flooded.Div. 1 Coun. Kevin Good said leaving the abutments in place would be the minimum step he could support.ìI don't think residents are satisfied with the status quo,î he said.Reeve Bruce Beattie's motion to recommend council approve repairing the road to its previous standard, leaving the abutments in place if possible, was carried unanimously.The committee also agreed to Div. 7 Coun. Al Kemmere's motion to have council's intergovernmental affairs committee lobby the provincial government for protective armouring and other measures to prevent future flooding.Reconstructed in 2005, Rge. Rd. 52 was flooded out by the Little Red Deer River this year as well as in 2007 and 2008.
