ATHABASCA – The tender for the new Athabasca bridge is scheduled to close in January, while the tender for the Highway 55 paving project should be issued early in the new year, according to Alberta Transportation.
It’s a little later than was expected in September, but Alberta Transportation confirmed again last week the tender for the bridge project will be awarded soon, with work expected to begin shortly thereafter.
“The tender on the new Athabasca River Bridge is scheduled to close on January 27, 2022. Once awarded, construction is anticipated to begin in spring 2022, with completion expected in 2025,” said Minister of Transportation press secretary Rob Williams in a Dec. 17 e-mail.
Talk of a replacement bridge has been ongoing through several iterations of government in the last decade, but various issues ranging from budgetary to geological have caused delays.
In July, a Transportation spokesperson said he expected the tender to be awarded by the end of summer, which came and went. In September, Williams said Alberta Transportation expected the tender would go out to four shortlisted contractors in October and be awarded in December with work starting early in the new year.
Williams didn’t elaborate on the delays.
Currently, the rusted, 900-foot, wood-decked bridge across the Athabasca River on Highway 813 is generally standing the test of time, having been completed in 1952, however, modern-day, heavy industrial traffic can make crossing the span a challenge, and a frightening one at that. Oftentimes, large splinters from the wood deck can be seen jutting upwards, and space is often at a premium.
The bridge is one of two projects for which area residents have been waiting patiently, the other being a resurfacing of Highway 55 east of Athabasca. Williams noted Alberta Transportation expects to issue the tender in early 2022 for the 31 km paving project to be completed during the 2022 construction season.
Athabasca mayor Rob Balay got a similar update on the two projects at the November AUMA (now Alberta Municipalities) conference from representatives at Alberta Transportation. He said he’s eager to see the projects get underway.
“I don't know if there'll be much happening before springtime but that'll be up to the contractor,” he said Dec. 19.
One of the things the new bridge design includes is a sidewalk portion on the south side, which may provide a nudge for future trail development, Balay went on to say.
“That'll put pressure on us to develop the trails that lead up to it and then on the other side that may go as far as the golf course,” he said. “That might be the logical thing, or maybe even out to the Ag grounds, I don't know, that will all happen in future planning.”
