ATHABASCA – Athabasca County will be putting out a request for a cost estimate on the removal of the existing Colinton bridge, after councillors decided to invest county dollars into the project while they wait for government funding.
During their Aug. 31 meeting, councillors voted 9-0 in favour of removing the existing structure, only after a quote has been obtained by administration.
“I don’t want to go in there (to do the work) at $300,000, and then we find out it’s actually $600,000, and now we have to pull the money out of reserves,” said Coun. Rob Minns, who added in the amendment to get a quote done before any work was started.
“It just makes me cringe. I’m all for the motion, I just want to have a hard number before we start the work.”
The decision to move forward with the removal was made at an Aug. 11 committee of the whole meeting where a 5-3 majority elected to go forward with the removal, so that work could begin if the county received Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program (STIP) funding.
STIP funding, which is provided by the provincial government, is a cost-sharing initiative that helps municipalities with roadwork, bridges, and other capital projects relating to transportation. The province provides 75 per cent of the funding, with caveats.
Part of the issue for some councillors is that the funding can’t be applied retroactively, meaning any money spent before the funding is granted must come out of the county’s coffers.
“My only concern here is not being accepted for STIP funding, and then we’ve started this work and now what? That’s why I was in favour of just taking out a loan to do it,” said Coun. Tracy Holland, referencing one of the options discussed at the Aug. 11 meeting.
“We originally decided to pursue the preliminary engineering out of our own budget while we waited to see if we would get STIP funding. Now that we’re still waiting, we’re in the same boat,” said Coun. Ashtin Anderson. “We’re investing in the project to make sure that once STIP looks at this project they see that it’s a priority for us.”
Anderson wasn’t the only councillor viewing the removal as an investment; Coun. Joe Gerlach expressed a similar sentiment, saying, “If we put the funding into this it makes it more likely to get that STIP funding approved. We’re being proactive and we’re showing that this is a priority for the county.”
Athabasca County received STIP funding for five bridges in 2023; while they had also applied for funding for the Colinton bridge, the project wasn’t greenlit by the province.
“I think we all agree that it is a priority and that we move forward with this bridge,” said Kapitaniuk, who was elected in Division 2, which includes Colinton. “Financial responsibility is always number one, but I really am grateful for everyone’s words today, and I think that we can look forward to this project hopefully not taking five or six years.”
