Alberta Transportation has announced it will provide funding for the operation of the Bowden Heritage Rest Area this year.
Alberta Transportation has announced it will provide funding for the operation of the Bowden Heritage Rest Area this year.
Christine Way, a spokeswoman for Alberta Transportation, said the department’s regional staff in Red Deer will provide the cash out of their current maintenance budget but she did not have details on a specific amount.
Alberta Transportation will evaluate whether it will continue to fund the rest area’s operation on a yearly basis until "longer-term plans" for rest areas along Highway 2 are executed, Way said.
Right now, she added, the department is "reviewing an overall strategy for safety rest areas along Highway 2."
"The location of the Bowden rest area is unlikely to be a long-term solution because it only serves southbound motorists and we have plans in the longer term for an interchange at Highway 587. However, we recognize that a short-term solution is needed because we do recognize that in the meantime before that interchange is built that this is useful for motorists along Highway 2."
Way said the funding proposal will be "formally communicated" to the town.
In a 5-1 vote at its April 14 meeting, Bowden council passed a motion not to open the rest area for the 2014 season unless prior funding arrangements with the province are in place.
Coun. Wayne Milaney cast the dissenting vote.
Andy Weiss, the town’s chief administrative officer, said in an email on April 16 that he had a telephone conversation after the council meeting with officials from Alberta Transportation.
"They are now aware of the above-noted Council Motion and they have assured me that they will be getting back to us shortly with details to further discuss on this issue," he said.
The town has budgeted $30,000 for the operation of the rest area this year with the intention of opening the facility on the May long weekend.
Last year, the town learned it would no longer receive a grant from the Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parks and Wildlife Foundation that it has relied on since the 1990s to run the facility.
The town typically puts roughly $30,000 into the operation and maintenance of the rest area, which opened in 1984 and includes a campsite often used for picnics located just north of the Bowden Golf Course and adjacent to a rest stop on the southbound lanes of Highway 2.
Members of council and at least one community organization are advocating for the rest area to continue to open due to its benefits to Bowden businesses and travellers on the highway.
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