A new Athabasca Bridge is one step closer to reality following an announcement in the 2017 Alberta budget speech.
On March 16, Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci said during his delivery of the speech in the Legislative Assembly that the province would replace the bridge.
“To improve life for families, and to make sure loggers, oil sands workers and agricultural producers have safe and efficient routes, we are going to replace the Highway 813 bridge, near Athabasca,” Ceci said.
Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater MLA Colin Piquette said the bridge project has been moved from the province’s unfunded project list to its capital plan.
“The unfunded plans are vetted projects that would be worth doing, but they’re not enough of a priority to put our limited funds towards,” he said. “It is now on capital plan and there is money available for it. This is something we’re going to build. It’s just a question of when.”
Piquette said he is still in the process of gathering details regarding the timing of the funding as that will determine when the project’s next steps.
“The question now is, where is it on the priority list within the plan itself, and what other things might need to happen as well?” he said. “I’m just as eager for those details as the residents of Athabasca.”
Piquette said he is cautiously optimistic, but the planning and engineering phases of building the bridge could take some time. “It’s not going to happen tomorrow,” he said. “The good news is that it’s a lot further ahead than it was on Thursday.”
News of the progress was welcomed by Town of Athabasca Mayor Roger Morrill, who said a new bridge is long overdue as it is a vital connection between the north and south sides of the Athabasca River.
He also said said the current bridge has served its time, and a new bridge is necessary to properly handle the traffic that goes across it.
“This is a badly-needed bridge for the community and surrounding areas, and I think this is critical,” Morrill said. “It’s good that the province has acknowledged the need for such an important infrastructure for this area and will be proceeding.”
