WOODLANDS COUNTY – Woodlands County Council reviewed the bridge assessments within the County and their current condition and capital plan at their Nov. 20 meeting.
The proposed ten-year work plan equates to $7.6 million or a weighted bridge file asset replacement value of $760,000.
Jeff Zhang, Director of Woodlands County Infrastructure Services explained that the average bridge lifespan is 52 years, some more and some less based on several factors.
Kara Kennedy, Capital Assets Manager, shared details on the current conditions of bridges.
“There are 76 (bridges) in total however only 72 of those are on our roadways. We have three recreational bridges and one covered bridge,” stated Kennedy.
“A lot of them are in the good to fair condition. There's one in critical condition and we have four that are in poor condition.”
Kennedy reviewed specific examples of Woodlands County bridge’s situations.
One particular bridge structure is 63 years old. It has back wall gaps and some of the materials are coming through the gaps. The estimated lifespan for this bridge is around 70 years.
Other examples shown were of bridges 63 to 66 years old with concrete breaking down and a hole on the top of one bridge.
Bridge Inspections are regulated by Alberta Transportation.
“We follow inspections from the provincial recommendations and typically those are 39 to 57 months frequency,” explained Kennedy.
“They require a certified bridge inspector so those are not things that we can do in-house.”
“Bridge files inspectors typically go out in the summer to do the inspections.”
There is a bridge rating system defined for certified bridge inspectors which is documented in the Alberta Transportation BIM Level 1 Inspection Manual.
The inventory tracking comes from the Provincial database.
The files are then reviewed by the team including aligning the ten-year plan and potentially making revisions based on the inspection results.
Zhang shared that the crew is continually improving their skills to increase the amount of work they can complete without going with outside contractors.
“This year the county forces have been more dedicated and more deliberate performing bridge maintenance,” shared Zhang.
“We hope over the course of a few more years we want to improve the capacity of company staff to do more and more bridge works.”
Council accepted the bridge review and capital plan as information.
