Alberta continues to rebuild roads after flooding

Work continues on rebuilding bridges and roads in Alberta that were washed out during the floods at the end of June. Aproximately 985 kilometres of provincial roads were closed due to flood damage, and of those 857 kilometres (87%) have been reopened or partially reopened, including most of the major bridges. Approximately 200 bridges have been inspected, with the majority having received some damage.

This week, both lanes were re-opened on the Highway 587 Garrington Bridge, for example, southwest of Red Deer on Highway 587, which was washed out during the flooding. The bridge carries about 1,100 vehicles every day over the Red Deer River, serving residents of Red Deer County, Mountain View County, Sundre, Olds, Caroline, Bowden and Innisfail.

Ric McIver, Minister of Transportation, said: “Our staff, consultants and contractors collaborated to re-open two lanes of traffic over the Garrington Bridge in a very short period of time following the catastrophic flooding in June. Government fast-tracked the contract and accelerated timelines for design and construction to help ease access for local residents as part of our recovery commitment.”

The major repair work on the Garrington Bridge required rebuilding the approach and the road foundation. Additional work on the bridge still to be completed includes new riverbank protection works upstream to mitigate potential damage from future flooding, seeding the disturbed areas and installing drainage control measures. This work is underway and will be completed in November.

To see photographs of bridges in Alberta that were washed out during the June 20-22 floods, click here.