Rural municipalities, including Mountain View and Red Deer counties, welcome the renewal of the provincial Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program (STIP), says Al Kemmere.
The president of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties (AAMDC) and a Mountain View County councillor, Kemmere took part in a press conference regarding the program on March 14.
The STIP program, which was zero funded by the previous PC government in 2013, is being reinstated, Minister of Transportation Brian Mason said during the press conference. The STIP program provides funding for the upkeep of local bridges, airports and roads.
The province has launched an engagement process to gather input from municipalities on the grant criteria for STIP.
During the press conference, Kemmere says rural municipalities welcome provincial government help in funding bridges, roads and airports.
“This funding is important for our municipalities,” said Kemmere, who is the councillor for Division 7. “This engagement is a welcome announcement. It is great that we are going to have our municipal input and our municipal considerations brought forward.
“Gathering information from those who use the funds, who need the funds, is a very welcome approach for this.
“It deals with bridges, which are a vital link for our people to get from home to their community or from their community to community. It also services industry, agriculture, forestry and plays an important role in our county environment.”
There are 8,800 bridges in the province, all of which need funding for maintenance, upkeep and improvements, he said.
“STIP funding is a key piece to supporting that,” he said.
Community airports are vital to rural communities and STIP funding is important for maintaining those facilities, he said.
“The community airport program is very important, especially for the more remote rural municipalities and small communities, where they need these airports, if anything, for a medevac situation so they can move their people from their communities down to where the medical assistance is so important for them.”
The AAMDC represents 69 rural municipalities, including Red Deer and Mountain View counties.
Lisa Holmes, the president of Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, also took part in the press conference. She said STIP funding is “essential to urban municipalities across the province; in particular community airports, bridges and roads are important transportation links that have been under-resourced and are in need of capital improvements.”
The AUMA represents urban municipalities, including all the towns in Mountain View and Red Deer counties.
Minister Mason said restoring STIP funding “will help municipalities build the transportation infrastructure they need to encourage economic growth and support their communities.
“We want to get it right. That's why we're committed to engaging with our key stakeholders and determining how they can best use this program to benefit all regions of the province.”
The engagement process will include meetings with the AUMA, AAMDC and others, he said.
A total of $100 million in new funding for STIP will be available in 2017-18 and 2018-19, according to the Alberta Transportation website.
