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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Bridge-repair woes infuriate local residents

By: Carol Sanders

Posted: 08/2/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

THERE'S no quick fix for a washed-out bridge in Manitoba's thriving oilpatch, says the province.

"We recognize the inconvenience," said Lance Vigfusson, an assistant deputy minister for Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation. Drivers who used the Highway 251 bridge over the Souris River until flooding destroyed it in July 2011 now take an 80-kilometre detour on a gravel road.

"Nobody wants to lose a bridge, but it happens with Mother Nature," said Vigfusson.

Replacing the Highway 251 bridge at Coulter with a temporary one would cost close to $6 million and take nearly as long to build as the permanent $12-million one expected to open in November 2013, said the engineer.

Outraged area residents say the southwestern pocket of Manitoba is enjoying an oil boom and there's money to fix the problem. Oil companies have offered to help pay for a temporary bridge.

However, the $300,000 they're offering is a drop in the bucket and a temporary bridge would still take almost a year to complete and cost $6 million, said Vigfusson. He estimated $3 million for the structure and an additional $3 million for the roadway approaches because the crossing is at the bottom of a valley prone to flooding. Environmental approval and construction wouldn't be finished until spring 2013, he said.

Waskada Mayor Gary Williams said he thinks a temporary bridge could be built in two weeks if the province's engineers looked for solutions instead of shooting down ideas being put forward.

"They keep putting up roadblocks," he said. "They look like a bunch of clowns. This isn't rocket science."

Williams said he doesn't expect engineers to violate safety laws to get a temporary bridge in place. He said he's a realist who knows something has to be done to replace the washed-out bridge soon.

"People were driving around it last winter and across this guy's pasture on the ice," he said.

Proponents of a temporary solution argue temporary bridges have been built in other places -- like the Highway 21 bridge over the Souris.

Vigfusson said that was "simpler and quicker," and cost just $2 million because it wasn't at the bottom of a valley.

"We just had to span the banks."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 2, 2012 A4

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