Any solution to the problematic flooding that can occur at the walkway that runs under the Ray Gibbon Drive bridge will have wait until next spring.
St. Albert city council voted Monday night to have administration evaluate what it feels is the best option for dealing with the seasonal washouts and submit a business case during the 2013 budget process.
“First we have to decide what to do. Then we can look at making grant applications,” said acting city manager Chris Jardine.
The Big Lake Environmental Support Society (BLESS) led by Pat Collins has been particularly vocal about repairing the problem as the walkway is the only safe way to reach the BLESS platform and Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park.
Council had previously asked administration to evaluate potential solutions so that a local group like BLESS could apply for grant funding to repair the problem, something local activist Elke Blodgett did not agree with.
“If the city designed it wrong, why should we have to pay to fix it?” Blodgett asked.
Collins warned council that repairing the flooding was an important safety step to deter visitors to the park and platform from instead running across Ray Gibbon Drive.
“The cost of proper pedestrian access is miniscule compared to the cost of potential liability as people cross Ray Gibbon Drive when the walkway is flooded,” Collins said. “I would like to see this new access put in sooner than later.”
The engineering department has submitted four possible solutions, as well as listing each one’s pros and cons. An Aqua Dam, which contains large tubes filled with water to act as a water barrier, is not workable due to the topography of the trail. All-terrain matting, in essence floating platforms, can be easily deployed by public works but would require constant monitoring and, in times of high flooding, could represent a safety risk. A water fence that acts as a levee to protect the trail is easy to assemble but could limit drainage from the trail. The final option, a temporary ramp built by the city, would be limited by the height constraints of the existing bridge.
Safety guidelines dictate the distance between the trail and bottom of the bridge must be no less than 2.4 metres, or eight feet.
Planning and engineering director Guy Boston said the Ray Gibbon Drive trail was the only one in need of an alternative as all other bridge trails have alternate routes.
“Ray Gibbon Drive is unique to all the other situations where there is no way to get around this except for going across Ray Gibbon Drive,” Boston said.
Boston explained that, when the bridge was first built, the replacement of the trail was one of the lesser priorities compared to the height of the bridge itself.
“The walkway was just supposed to fit,” Boston said. “It was not the number one thing to set the grade on.”
In subsequent years, the instances in which the path has been washed out have been growing in frequency and duration, driving Collins to repeatedly ask council to provide a solution.
“If at all possible, I would like to see [the solution] put in in spring or summer instead of waiting to see if we have a dry spring or dry summer,” Collins said.
Boston said his staff estimates that, due to lower than expected snowfall last winter, there is a less than 20 per cent chance the path will flood this year.
