ATHABASCA – The Colinton Bridge won’t be replaced in 2024, but Athabasca County is taking steps to work towards being shovel-ready on its replacement — as soon as the grant funding rolls in.
The bridge, which has been closed since June 16, 2022, connected the hamlet to the Town of Athabasca in a more direct manner than going out to Highway 2. Community members, including Division 2 councillor Natasha Kapitaniuk, have been concerned about the increased response time for emergency services, as well as added travel time for school buses over the past two years.
“I really, truly, believe that the residents of this community and county have been patient and that is not going to last forever,” said Kapitaniuk during the July 16 committee of the whole (CoW) meeting.
“It is our duty to put in a bridge for the future, for the next 50 or 60 years. It’s not that we don’t do things because they’ll fail in the future — everything fails. It gets worn out; it needs to get fixed. I don’t believe we’re in a position where we can’t do that.”
Councillors approved funding for engineering costs —a final bid for the project hasn’t been accepted and the total cost is still unknown— with the goal of tendering the project for replacement in 2025. Council had planned on using the Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program (STIP), a provincial grant which covers 75 per cent of the cost, but the project was denied for the second year in a row.
“I personally think the Colinton Bridge is something that needs to be done, and it needs to be done yesterday,” said Coun. Tracy Holland. “We can’t put a temporary bridge in there, so I think we need to move forward with this. We need to plan to replace it, but I’m hesitant to ask for a third round of STIP funding.”
Last September, councillors approved the removal of the old bridge, which had holes in the roadwork, with a $650,000 budget. At the time, a motion to pay for the upfront cost of replacement out of reserves was defeated. The idea came up again during the July 16 meeting but was again pushed back. On July 31, a spokesperson for the county said the tender for the project hadn’t been finalized and was unable to provide a start date.
People have waited, they’ve been vocal, but they’re going to get impatient,” said Kapitaniuk. “I don’t think it’s fair for administration to take the abuse because we’re basically sitting on our hands waiting for the government to give us our allowance.”
The total cost for the bridge replacement is estimated at $2.1 million, and despite being turned down twice, administration is still confident they would receive the needed funding.
“We should make it a priority application, and if it's clear that that’s the only one we’re making an application for, we should emphasize that,” said CAO Bob Beck.
“If we all went bonkers and decided to write the cheque this afternoon, which of course we can’t, it’s too late in the year to do the work this year. Regardless of what is happening, we’re talking about doing the work in 2025,” said Reeve Brian Hall. He added the timing didn’t rule out another STIP application or the possibility of funding the project from reserves.
Other options
Councillors briefly discussed building a connector road to Township Road 654 and Range Road 22 during the CotW meeting, but the idea was defeated in a split vote, with councillors Holland, Kapitaniuk, Joe Gerlach and Gary Cromwell in favour.
“There’s a mile and a half of road that could be built and we wouldn’t have to put a bridge there,” said Minns, who put the idea forward. “I always look at if there’s a way where we don’t have to put that infrastructure back in where it’ll fall apart years and years from now.”
Possible problems with the project included wetlands mitigation, a needed culvert and the cost.
