The bridge is located about a kilometre east of Highway 766 near the county’s far south border.
Council approved the budget for construction of the bridge BF 2377 on the Acme Road in 2019, with the intent of delaying the replacement for as long as possible, administration said in a briefing note to council.
“An inspection completed in June 2019 noted that if the bridge was not replaced within two years, a repair to the piles would be necessary to extend the life of the bridge,” the note states.
“At that point, the decision was made to move forward with tendering out construction of a replacement.”
A total of 12 submissions were received during the pre-qualification process, with seven contactors pre-qualified, council heard.
The tender opening was held at the county office on Jan. 31, with all seven pre-qualified contractors submitting bids.
The lowest compliant bid was submitted by Lafarge Canada at $1,940,704.
Replacing the bridge, including engineering, was estimated to cost $2.1 million.
“If council does not move forward with construction, operational services recommends that the repairs to the bridge be completed at an estimated cost of $30,000,” the note states.
“These repairs should extend the life of the bridge to 2026, at which time the replacement could be done in conjunction with Phase 2 of Acme Road. Repair costs would be funded from the existing capital budget that was approved for replacement of the bridge.”
Councillors passed a motion to not move forward with the construction of the new bridge and to direct administration to complete the required repairs to extend the life of the bridge.
