Morden City Council has awarded the tenders for the redesign of the Alvey Street and Parkhill Drive bridges, which remain closed at this time. The two structures were severely damaged during the spring's sudden overland flooding.
Mayor Brandon Burley explained.
"You recall in May, during the flood we had, with overland flooding, the Alvey Street bridge washed out and it's completely gone. For all intents and purposes, Parkhill Bridge had substantial damage to it as well. We went under the Manitoba Disaster Financial Assistance Program, the DFA program, for funding release because that's $1.6 million to $1.7 million of work that has to be done in a year where our budget is already allocated."
Burley shared what happened as a result.
"One of the requirements was that we do an engineering assessment on both bridges, which was completed in June and indicated, obviously, the Alvey Street bridge required complete replacement and the recommendation was that it be a free-standing structure. Then the Parkhill Bridge came back with a substantial cost to repair. The problem we have with the Parkhill bridge is from a flow perspective, all the widths of bridges and crossings on the Dead Horse (Creek) get broader until they hit Parkhill where it restricts again."
Ultimately, DFA funding was allocated to replace the Alvey Street bridge with a free-standing structure. $200,000 was allocated towards repairs of the Parkhill Dr. bridge, however, with special permission from the Province, this money will now be put towards a free-standing bridge for Parkhill as well.
"Now, we're looking at a full replacement of the Alvey Street Bridge as well as Parkhill Drive Bridge, both with free-standing structures, so proper bridges, no culverts. Those tenders went out and came back in mid to late June. The first committee meeting of July we had a special meeting of Council in which we approved the awards of those designs."
In a special meeting on July 12th, Council awarded $58,000 plus GST to WSP to design the Alvey Street bridge and $45,700.00 plus GST for the Parkhill Drive bridge design, with hopes of having the construction tenders go out as soon as the design phase is complete. The timeline for both bridges relies heavily on contractor availability.
Burley shared the feedback City Council has received about the Parkhill bridge replacement.
"Anytime you're moving or changing the way water can and will flow, there will always be analysis and concern of lack of analysis downstream. So, some of the comments certainly we've had coming back are from those who are downstream saying, 'How will this affect water flow at my property?' The analysis that was done is based on a 100-year flood level. The impact of currents and stream flow downstream are being analyzed as part of this study, as part of the design study."
Burley added the impact of the major one-time events is the baseline for the design to be approved as well as the study and analysis being conducted.