The paving, approved unanimously at Red Deer County's recent regularly scheduled council meeting, will cover Rge. Rd. 284 from Highway 11 to Twp. Rd. 384 and Twp. Rd. 374 from Highway 2A to C & E Trail.
Central City bid $327,543.04 for Rge. Rd. 248 and $1,366,408.37 for Twp. Rd. 374, coming in at $1,693,951.40, beating out Border Paving Ltd., which bid $356,471.99 for Rge. Rd. 248 and $1,502,743.01 for Twp. Rd. 374, ending at the larger figure of $1,859,215.00.
Paving Rge. Rd. 284 will help improve traffic flow in the Poplar Ridge area, according to Coun. George Gehrke.
“It'll change things around a bit,” Gehrke said. “It's a pretty primary link into Poplar Ridge so it handles a fair bit of traffic onto Highway 11. It takes a lot of maintenance to keep it all graded up so to get a hard surface on that would help tremendously to feed the traffic in and out of the Poplar Ridge area.”
Gehrke says the new pavement will relieve traffic at Burnt Lake, since Poplar Ridge residents often like to drive on pavement all the way to the Burnt Lake Fas Gas.
Central City is also in the middle of completing a $6.4-million road upgrade project in Gasoline Alley.
In other county news, Red Deer County peace officers will spend 10 hours a month patrolling the Town of Bowden following a unanimous vote by county council.
Currently Bowden has a bylaw officer with limited powers, and the new arrangement will be modelled after county patrolling of communities like Delburne and Elnora.
“I think the biggest thing is cooperation with local municipalities,” said Mayor Jim Wood, following the vote. “This is something that they probably would not be able to do on their own. We have the officers available.”
Patrols in Delburne and Elnora have been a smart move, he said, noting it gives officers a reason to hit different corners of the county.
“We have a great relationship with the Three Hills RCMP because we get into these areas,” he said. “I suspect this will build our relationship even better with the Olds RCMP.”
Gehrke said every little bit the county can chip in pays dividends down the road.
“It's community building,” he said. “We need to work together and provide services. I can't imagine Bowden trying to employ a bylaw officer just by themselves.”
The county will receive $55 per hour of peace officer service in Bowden town limits.
Meanwhile, Red Deer County will ask Canada Post to recognize the names of its seven hamlets when moving to the new mailing address system.
A county motion calls on Canada Post to allow Ardley, Benalto, Dickson, Lousana, Markerville, Springbrook and Spruce View to retain their historic identity and remain easily identifiable.
