Top stories of 2014: The tale of two bridges continues in P.A.

But at the end of this past March, when asked by paNOW whether he’d support the construction of a second bridge if Prince Albert used public-private partnership (P3) to fund it, Premier Brad Wall said he’d be willing to sit at the table with the city’s mayor and council.

It was a beginning of a shift at the provincial level towards the idea of a second bridge.

“I’ve talked about it in generalities, but I want to confirm today for the people of Prince Albert and area that our provincial government is committed to funding our share of a second bridge for the city of Prince Albert,” said Wall on Aug. 11.

“We do believe that a second bridge for Prince Albert would be eligible as a P3 Canada Project.”

From there, there were renewed talks about planning for a second bridge. For the City, it was just one more funding option to look at.

The City has been looking into a number of options for funding a potential second bridge beyond a P3 model. It is also considering tolls, as well as the conventional tax-and-build model.

The City will hear presentations from camps for and against the P3 funding model. Mayor Greg Dionne said, at the end of the day, it has to be looked at seriously, because if you want funding from the federal government, it comes through a P3, and the province is following this example.

Dionne himself doesn’t like the length of the P3 process. He said it would be two years before a project gets approval.

“Well, I want to start construction, so I’m [a] very impatient person, that’s part of my problem coming from the private sector into the government. Government moves slow. The private sector [says] ‘let’s build today’. So, we’re going to keep pushing it, but everything’s positive.”

To look at the various funding models for a potential second bridge, a regional committee has been formed. Prince Albert is represented by Coun. Mark Tweidt on the committee.

Dionne said all of the other members of the committee represent communities north of the Diefenbaker Bridge, because, as he said, it’s a northern bridge, not just a Prince Albert bridge.

For Dionne, this is a fact borne out by a study on the Diefenbaker Bridge.

In November, the results of a study the City commissioned from Vemax Management Canada was presented to city council. In it, the lead researcher, Paul Christensen, found that 75 per cent of the Diefenbaker Bridge’s traffic neither starts nor ends in Prince Albert.

The study also found that a complete shutdown of the City’s only bridge would mean a loss of about $1.85 million each day it is closed.

Dionne said the findings make it clear that a second bridge would be a provincial bridge. And while the City is looking at various funding models for a second bridge, he said the City would be liable for at least 25 per cent of the money.

“I think that’s fair and I think the citizens will understand that if we have to go that route, that hey, if we’re using it, we’re not going to pay 50 per cent. We’re not using it 50 per cent. We’ll pay our share.”

He added that a toll-funding model would be an advantage for Prince Albert residents. He said residents would not pay to use the bridge – they would have a pass that would exempt them from payment. For residents of surrounding rural municipalities, he’s suggesting a half-price discount for using the bridge.

The remainder of users would pay the full toll to use the new bridge.

“There’s all kinds of funding models and solutions. But what I like about it: it’s created discussion in the community. And whenever you have discussion, that means the project is moving forward.”

But, in the meantime, the City is making maintaining its current bridge a priority and has included bridge inspections on its 2015 project list. In the new year, the City has set aside $150,000 to inspect all of its bridges.

City manager Jim Toye pointed out that the study completed by Christensen found there isn’t much life left in the bridge unless there’s a proactive approach to maintain the Diefenbaker Bridge. He said the first recommendation that came out is that the bridge is in “not bad shape, but we really need to be proactive in maintaining its current or enhancing its current condition prior to even thinking about a second bridge.”

Toye said the City will work with the province to fund this, and funding would come from the Urban Highway Connector Program.

“So, there’s a lot of things that need to be done on the bridge. It [the study] didn’t identify every single thing, but we will work with the provincial government to really drill down and see what is required and try to create a plan over the next, say, five to eight years of how we can bring that bridge to a certain standard and maintain that standard.”

Among the fixes that Dionne said are needed include repairs to the side rails and to the splashguards along the Diefenbaker Bridge.

He said the City is doing the inspections and the reports ahead of time, in order to bid for federal and provincial infrastructure funding that comes available with a shovel-ready plan in hand.

“I think by doing that and you’re ready to go, that you’ll be the first out of the queue and in line to get the money, and so we’re just going to be proactive and it also helps us for budgeting for the future. We need to know in advance if we have to spend two, three million dollars in a couple years to fix that deck, so we can start planning for it.”

He said the way of maintaining the bridge in the past – waiting until something goes wrong and then repairing it – is why there were five to six per cent tax increases.

“Where, if you plan for it, you put a little money away here, you save a little there, and cut some jobs here and save that money, you can get small increases like we did [for 2015].”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames

by Thia James

Top stories of 2014: The tale of two bridges continues in P.A.

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