In the past decade, Centre Wellington has closed seven bridges – a number the township’s director of infrastructure Colin Baker does not expect that number to be reduced in the near future.
In fact, says Baker, it may increase as the town continues to deal with dozens of municipally-owned bridges.
The issue came up as part of Baker’s summary on the township’s 2012 biennial bridge inspection report prepared by the township engineers McCormick Rankin Corporation.
“It’s a great report, but we have an awful lot to do,” said Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj.
Since the program’s 2003 implementation, 2012 marked the fifth inspection of the township bridges. The majority of the bridges are for vehicular traffic (100 bridges) and the remaining four bridges are for pedestrian use.
The number of bridge closures has increased from two in 2003 to seven in 2013. During that time period, the township replaced nine bridges.
The closures of the Third Line bridge in Pilkington and the Washington Street bridge in Salem have already been implemented.
Other bridges slated for repairs and rehabilitation this year include two bridges on the Eighth Line of Pilkington one on the Fourth Line of Eramosa.
Baker said the 2013 maintenance program will include some minor repairs to bridge guard rails and continuation of the bridge washing program.
“By cleaning dirt, debris and accumulated road salt off the structure, the service life of the structure will be extended,” Baker told council.
Councillor Fred Morris said he is concerned the number of closed bridges has risen to seven. While he said he understands the funding challenges faced by the municipality, he asked, “are we doing anything to slow down the rate of closures – or can we?”
Baker said, “At this point it is mainly a funding issue.” He added that in the same time period, the township was able to complete nine bridge replacements.
“But even with the nine replacements, we still had the seven closures. You can do the math,” said Baker. “It indicates the number of closures are increasing even though we’ve been doing one replacement each year.”
Morris asked, “Is the trend going to be that the township will continue to fall behind on bridge repairs without a change in the funding formula.”
Replied Baker, “That is the route we are going right now.”
Ross-Zuj said the township has had funding applications turned down even though the township was willing to do its share. She said government funding applications are very competitive “and they are going to continue to be that way.”
Baker added the issue has also been discussed in relation to the loss of the Connecting Link funding program, which had been in place since the late 1950s.
“It ended as of January,” he noted.
Baker said the Highway 6 (David Street) bridge in Fergus is another structure which will require major rehabilitation in the next few years and will be a local responsibility.
Ross-Zuj said township officials met with Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott on April 12 to review a number of issues – “and that was one of them.” She said the municipality is looking for some answers.
“It’s become fairly silent in terms of getting any information back from the province as to all these pieces of (road) which belonged to the province and now belong to municipalities” she said.
“This is huge for us.”
Morris asked if provincial officials were aware of the concerns.
“Oh yes,” the mayor said.
“Repeatedly,” added councillor Walt Visser.
He said the municipality is handing over updated bridge reports to officials whenever the opportunity arises.
Morris considered the bridge statistics as quite alarming – “especially for our municipality, where we have so many bridges.”
He said, “We don’t have the funding. We have to have the assistance of the upper levels of government.”
Ross-Zuj agreed. She added the issue has not reached only provincial ears, but federal as well. She noted the Federation of Canadian Municipalities is well aware of Centre Wellington’s situation to try to address the competitive nature of who gets what funding.
“We certainly have the needs and can justify the needs. How do we get them to distribute the funds? That is what we are working on.”
Ross-Zuj said the new funding formula is going to be similar to the past versions, which means they will still be of a competitive nature.
“We’re going to have to be competitive again,” she said.
Ross-Zuj found irony in some people standing up and saying it is hard for municipalities with one bridge, and even harder for those with 10.
Centre Wellington has over 100 bridges.
Councillor Steven VanLeeuwen asked if there was any rationale behind the provincial downloading of connecting link highways and bridges.
“We’re not getting any answers to our questions,” Ross-Zuj said.
Councillor Kirk McElwain asked about the criteria used regarding repairs.
Baker said the repairs “are to get the best bang for the dollar invested.”
The bridges selected were chosen to maximize the lifespan with the minimum investment.
Councillor Kelly Linton asked whether the report looked at the use of the bridge in terms of how necessary repairs were.
“Whether it needed to be kept open … or repaired,” Linton asked.
Baker said the report did not.
Linton said the use of the bridge might dictate whether it needs to remain open.
Councillor Mary Lloyd wondered if there were any opportunities for lower-cost projects.
Baker said other approaches are being looked such as replacement of short-span bridges with culverts.
VanLeeuwen also believed council should rethink how bridges are tendered and how many times a project needs to be engineered.
Because municipalities are now required to have inventories of municipal assets, he believed Centre Wellington may have a better chance obtaining funds.
“The documents certainly show the need,” said Visser. “We either have to close bridges or put toll roads in to pay for them.”
