FORT ASSINIBOINE - A long-time Fort Assiniboine resident and former Woodlands County Coun. Dale Kluin is concerned about the condition of the Athabasca Bridge as sometime in the afternoon on Aug. 10, pieces of concrete in the middle of it gave way and fell into the river below.
The bridge, which is just a couple minutes outside the hamlet on Highway 33, one of the two main roads connecting it with the outside world, remained open to alternating traffic while work crews assessed and repaired it.
Kluin received a phone call from one of the local gravel companies at about 5:30 p.m. saying that one of their drivers had seen a hole in the middle of the driving lane about a third way on the west end of the bridge and went to investigate.
"By the time I got there, the hole was about three-and-a-half or four-feet wide and six-feet long. You could see the water underneath," he said.
Kluin added that shortly after he arrived, he witnessed a driver hit the hole, destroying their rear tire. Fortunately, the driver was able to make it across the bridge safely.
Kluin, who is also a member of the Fort Assiniboine Fire Department, with the help of another bystander, then took it upon themselves to do traffic control until they were relieved by the RCMP, who arrived 30 to 45 minutes later.
Kluin added that for the past several years, in the spring or fall, construction crews, in an attempt to increase the lifespan of the ageing 260-metre steel truss structure built in 1956, have done a series of repairs.
During the latest session, he said, repair crews noted some cement from underneath the bridge was starting to come loose and was falling into the river.
"So, they put some 2x8s or 2x10s to stop it. And that is where the hole is on the top," Kluin said. "If you blow up the pictures, you can see that, for the lack of a better word, all the steel is rotten ... when you come across the bridge, undo your seatbelt just in case you have to jump because I can't imagine the steel in the rest of the bridge is any better."
Kluin noted later that evening, he spoke to Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken, who subsequently reached out to Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors.
"But in my opinion, (Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors) do not think it is a big deal," he said, noting the community and Woodlands County have expressed their concerns about the structure going back several years.
Kluin said from his understanding from talking to repair crews on site that as a temporary fix the plan is to put steel plating over top of the hole.
"(When I was on council), the province told us that we would get a new bridge by 2018, then it was 2022. Then, about two years ago, it wasn't on any list because (the province says) the life expectancy on that bridge is 2034," he said.
However, Kluin said about two months ago, van Dijken told him that the province had put it on its replacement list again but that they could not complete it until the bridge was constructed in Athabasca, which is not expected to be completed until sometime in 2026.
"That's three more years. In the meantime, we have a bridge falling into the river," he said. "This bridge is not safe. I don't care what any engineer tells me. If that section of the bridge is suspect, then so is the rest of it. Major infrastructure in this province that they haven't looked at in years is falling apart, and they don't seem to think it is a big deal. I'm going to do what I can to make it one."
During a 2015 public information session in Fort Assiniboine on Alberta Transportation's plans to replace the bridge, then-acting bridge manager Brent Herrick said the province anticipates the lifespan of a bridge to be 75 years, adding that although the structure wasn't scheduled for replacement, a design was in place.
van Dijken said in an Aug. 11 interview that several constituents, including Kluin, informed him about the bridge's condition on the evening of Aug. 10. He then talked to Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors Minister Devin Dreeshen that evening and senior officials at the ministry to learn the status of the repairs and the long-term plans for the structure.
Transportation officials informed him that they had put in a speed reduction and traffic signals in the lead-up to the bridge in both directions, imposed a width restriction of 2.7 metres, necessitating going to one lane, and that engineers determined no weight restriction would be "They will be filling the hole with concrete," he said, adding Alberta Transportation has not given him an estimate when the bridge would be open to regular traffic. "A lot of that will depend on how long it needs to cure, but I suspect that in a week, it will be fully open."
In the long term, van Dijken noted that a new bridge has been placed on the consultation and design phase list and will be added to the ministry's capital plan in the spring.
"That process, consultation, design, permitting and the like, is expected to take about two years," he said. "Once that is all in place, it needs finance approval."
van Dijken added that sometimes the process takes longer, as it did for the Athabasca Bridge on Highway 813, because of engineering issues, saying that they ran into "soil issues" that prolonged the process.
He noted he understands residents' frustrations, adding transportation concerns and issues is one area that takes up much of his time.
"I will continue to advocate for not only the transportation needs of families and industry in the area but also for safe travel and to ensure our rural Alberta transportation infrastructure is being taken care of."
