Battleford Mayor Ames Leslie, left, and Finance Director/Deputy CAO David Gillan at council's meeting held at the Alex Dillabough Centre Monday. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

In the chambers

Town considers using drones to inspect Finlayson Island bridges

Mar 17, 2020 | 5:00 PM

The old North Saskatchewan River north and south truss bridges to access Finlayson Island are slated for extensive repairs. Now there may be another set of eyes to inspect their quality — this time through the lens of a drone.

Battleford lawmakers defeated a motion at their meeting Monday for a proposal from firm Associated Engineering for $10,301 for the drone inspection. Council instead decided to issue a request for proposals for the work in an effort to get a lower price.

“Council in principle sees the value of having it done by a drone, but they just weren’t sure if $10,000 to do it is an appropriate value,” Mayor Ames Leslie said. “They asked administration to go out and see if we can do a tender, to see if [it] is appropriate just to make sure we are maximizing every dollar of the taxpayers.”

The town’s engineering services recommended the more extensive inspection using drones for a more thorough inspection of these bridges.

About $25,000 was carried over in reserve from the 2018 inspection, which can cover the cost of the extra inspection work using the drone service. A total of $15,000 has already been approved in the town’s budget for the separate bi-annual inspection cost.

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The additional inspection with the use of drones would be able to take pictures of areas of the bridges engineers couldn’t access, including underneath the bridges. The inspection is to ensure the estimate cost to rehabilitate the bridges is accurate, according to CAO John Enns-Wind’s report.

He said “there are a lot of unknown variables that may significantly increase the costs of the repairs.”

The total cost to repair and maintain the bridges to a “good” condition is about $4.9 million based on a 10-year rehabilitation plan, according to the last estimate.

Enns-Wind’s report indicated the bridges are a critical part of Battleford’s identity and provide access across the river.

“The more costs that can be determined, the more accurate long-term financial planning can occur to rehabilitate the bridges,” he stated in support of a more thorough inspection. “The increased cost certainty will make it easier to work with other municipal jurisdictions and other levels of government.”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW