ATHABASCA - Athabasca County councillors got an unwelcome, but not surprising, set of facts during an update on the state of the municipalities brides — in the next ten years, the county is facing down $50 million of needed work.
County councillors listened intently to a presentation from Tim Edwards, a civil engineer with MPA engineering, who broke down the state of the 200-plus bridges and culverts sprinkled across the region.
“Can we afford to replace 95 bridges in the next ten years? Absolutely not. If we can push them out five, seven, nine years, we'll be stretching out that end of life scenario and making it more manageable from a management perspective,” said Athabasca County’s Director of Infrastructure Marshall Morton.
Just under 50 per cent of Athabasca’s bridge inventory is due for replacement, as structures built in the 1950s and ‘60s age out at the same time. Since they were initially built, Alberta Transportation has turned over the bridges to the county, meaning the municipality is on the hook for the replacements.
Athabasca’s 202 bridges, which includes everything from major structures like the Al-Pac bridge to small culverts on a dirt road, are a significant outlier compared to its neighbouring municipalities.
“Clearwater County has less — around 170 — in two-to-three times the size of the area. Another number that stands out is the standard bridges. Woodlands County has a similar number of structures, but significantly less standard bridges."
Edwards broke the county’s inventory into three main classifications: culverts, standard bridges, and major bridges. Standard bridges are more expensive to replace than culverts — Edwards said it's almost always more cost effective to use culverts where possible — and with 84 standard bridges across the county, the infrastructure department has a lot of work to do.
As part of his audit, Edwards identified 53 bridges and culverts he rated as below adequate — the point where maintenance is needed — and 50 that he rated as poor, which requires immediate attention before it regresses further.
Funding challenges
So far, Athabasca County has mostly relied on a government grant called the Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program (STIP), which covers 80 per cent of the costs for bridge-related projects. In 2024, the county was successful in five such applications, and it opted to use its own money for a sixth project, the Colinton Bridge, which had been closed for multiple years.
Morton assured councillors they were working on a plan to address the issue, but stressed that it was going to require maintenance funding as well as replacement funding. In order to space out the impact, the department will be working to extend the lifespan of the bridges where applicable.
Edwards walked councillors through the assessment process for the bridges, and how the decision is made to repair or replace, and what the rating scale used by the department means.
“The critical thing here is the time; it doesn’t happen in a week, and it doesn’t happen in a month. If you get ahead in the base elements, you have the opportunity to get grants to help cover some of these costs,” he said.
Edwards stressed the importance of having a “shovel-ready” project at all times in case new grants come up.
“If we’re one of those municipalities that have a shovel-ready project, we get the funding. We should always have one on the shelf ready to go,” he said.
One possibility is bridge closure; some of Athabasca County’s bridges are in places that are served by other structures, and could be closed without stranding residents on the wrong side of a creek.
“As we work to live within our means and work to maintain this gift of infrastructure that has been provided to us, we need to be thoughtful about meeting future needs,” said Coun. Brian Hall, who floated the possibility of closing some of the redundant bridges
“That will be a council decision, as the Colinton Bridge was,” said Coun. Rob Minns.
“We’re not going to lay that onto our director to make that decision.”
