An unexpected infrastructure problem is forcing Stettler town administration to look into a major budget reallocation in order to fix the problem without delay.
The issue is the unexpected appearance of sink hole in the service road of 57 Street near the Grandview Grocery, just across the RCMP detachment due to partial collapse of the culvert under the road.
While the town staff initially thought that the fix could be managed within the limits of the operational budget, it was later reported the cost would be at least three times as initially thought.
“We have been planning to replace the culverts there for a number of years but it is a quite costly project and we are hoping for some provincial funding,” said Rob Stoutenberg, town manager.
“But we have not been successful in obtaining provincial funding for that project.”
“Council has looked at the issue and agreed t put in some emergency funding towards replacing a section of one of the culverts.”
There are two culverts running under the road and while one is in fairly good shape, the other one needs urgent replacement.
Estimated cost is about $300,000 and because no funding is coming from provincial resources, town council will have to drop or suspend some projects to be able to cope with the culvert repair.
“We have to take care of that, because if we don’t, there could be flooding in the community,” said Stoutenberg.
The service road will remain closed until the parts are brought in and once the parts are in place, temporary repair work will begin in earnest.
Stoutenberg said the initial repair work will be temporary because contractors would probably would want to wait untilthe dry season, like August, to start a complete replacement.