News the old Battleford bridges are “no longer safe,” in the words of Mayor Ames Leslie, surprised Battleford residents in the audience of the recent state of the City/Town of the address at Western Development Museum.
Leslie told the audience the bridge, which serves as the lone artery to Finlayson Island, needs urgent attention. He said town council will need to make decisions within the “next six months” as to what the viability of the bridges will be.
Decisions town council will make on that issue will have wide reach, as Finlayson Island is a prominent attraction for those who like nature and the outdoors in the Battlefords. There are implications for tourism marketing for both Battleford and North Battleford, who share responsibility for the river valley.
The immediate focus of attention is on the south bridge, which connects Battleford to Finlayson Island. This is the only portion by which vehicular traffic can access the island.
But deterioration is evident. Cracked asphalt and potholes can be found on the south bridge.
As for the north bridge, which connects North Battleford to the island, it was closed to vehicles years ago, with only foot and cycle traffic allowed there.
While the mayor had used the words “no longer safe” to describe the state of the bridges in his address, the immediate situation is not quite as dire, as the bridges remain open and continue to be subject to bi-annual inspections.
Town officials acknowledge the bridges have been in rough shape ever since they were handed control of them. The main issue now is struggling to keep up with maintaining them.
“In 2003, when the government downloaded the bridges onto the town of Battleford the bridges were … in poor condition,” said Leslie to reporters Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, it’s one of those things that the bridges are deteriorating faster than we can fix it.”
In speaking to the Regional Optimist Thursday, the town’s CAO John Enns-Wind noted the bridges were still in “poor” condition. For town officials, that’s a concern.
“When the town received the bridges from the province they were rated, even after the province poured some money into it, in poor condition. In the last report in 2016 they’re still considered in poor condition,” said Enns-Wind.
The report Enns-Wind is referring to is from Associated Engineering (Sask.) Ltd., dated Dec. 2, 2016, addressed to Eric Bilanski, superintendant works/utilities of the Town of Battleford. That report was provided to the News-Optimist. The report states that a visual inspection took place of both the north and south bridges on Sept. 27 and 28, 2016.
According to that report, the south bridge “is still considered to be in poor condition due to the age of the structure and the condition of critical elements.” Among its observations: a number of missing signs, “loose spacers, split spacers, missing bolts and impact damage” along guardrails, “wide transverse cracks and depressions along bridge deck wearing surface,” as well as “potholes and severe alligator cracking.” Corrosion and peeling paint were also reported, and several other issues were identified as well.
“Given the age of the structure, the Town must consider the long-term plan for the bridge,” the report states. “A significant investment has been spent to repair the concrete identified in 2012, and further annual expenditures will be required in order to repair ongoing deterioration.”
A number of repair recommendations were also made, including sealing cracks in the asphalt, installing sealant in the checks and splits in interior stringers, cap beams and piles, and monitoring the concrete substructure.
While concrete repairs were done in the fall of 2014 on both bridges to restore the most seriously deteriorated concrete, it still continues to deteriorate, according to the report.
There were similar recommendations for repairs for the north bridge, including monitoring the concrete substructure. Like the south bridge, the north bridge was considered in poor condition.
“Similar to the south bridge crossing … the Town must consider the long-term plan for the North Channel crossing,” the report stated.
Town council was informed about the situation in a presentation from consulting engineers during an in-camera session Monday, May 7 at Town Hall.
Mayor Leslie said Tuesday that council was informed an “in-depth study needs to be done to see what the state of these bridges are and whether or not they can still handle the eight-ton rating that has been approved for these bridges.”
Enns-Wind said the town needs to know more about the state of the bridges.
“Of course, these bridges are now about 110 years old, and the question is just how safe are they. They’re heavy, they take a beating from the ice and also from the elements. So we’re working with the inspectors of the bridges, because it’s a provincial requirement. We just want to understand what is the exact condition that they are in, what is the work that needs to be done to ensure they can be used.”
One of the considerations, he said, is to ask “is it more cost-effective to allow vehicles over them, or should they only be restricted to pedestrians and cyclists, as an example.”
Both Leslie and Enns-Wind have confirmed the next step is for the town to engage an engineering firm to do that study. Leslie said that study should be completed in about a month.
It will be extensive, and go beyond what is already known about the bridges.
“They’re not just going to be doing a visual inspection, they are also going to do a physical examination,” said Enns-Wind.
“They’re going to be opening up the bridge to different parts, looking underneath. They’re going to be [...] examining some of the structural components, such as where metal’s on metal [...], because we want a more comprehensive analysis or assessment on the condition of the bridge, because all that’s been done so far is the visual inspection.”
The indication from Enns-Wind is that the town is looking to be proactive and consider its options, particularly with respect to Finlayson Island access.
“We don’t want an incident to happen,” said Enns-Wind. “The bridges have been rated in poor condition for decades, [...] and how do we ensure that either we can maintain them so that the next generation can use them, or is it time that we start working with our regional partners so that there is some type of access to Finlayson Island and the outdoor amenities that it provides.”
