Repair plans for Highway 903 include placing four culverts to reduce future washouts. Construction is expected to start in mid-September. (submitted photo/Amber Dishko)

By Nikita Ganovicheff

Highway repairs

MLA calls for bridge as only additional culverts to be added to washed out section of Hwy 903

Aug 22, 2019 | 8:53 AM

The Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure is set to replace the Highway 903 culvert washed away late last month and place additional culverts under the highway as part of their repair plans.

A section of the road collapsed after a period of heavy rain on July 31. Current plans are to place four culverts in the washed out section with the ministry anticipating work to start mid-September.

However, Athabasca MLA Buckley Belanger visited the site and believes the current repair plans are not enough and a bridge is needed.

“It’s an amazing space that needs to be filled in and I don’t think culverts and backfills will do it,” Belanger said. “Looking at it from the practical person’s perspective, I just can’t see how culverts are going to fill that gap. From my very limited perspective, I think a bridge is necessary.”

Belanger described the hole as 100 yards long, unstable and dangerous.

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Belanger said residents of Canoe Lake Cree First Nation and other areas are forced to take lengthy detours because of the road closure as well as several industries including forestry, tourism and local businesses are negatively impacted from the washout.

“People from the Canoe Lake area and Jans Bay, Cole Bay and some of the resort areas is easily 2,500 people, so you can’t say it doesn’t have an effect on the economy overnight. There isn’t any sector that isn’t impacted by this road closure,” Belanger said.

He wants more done to maintain northern highways.

“There are other highways in the north that will also be faced with this problem. I’m hearing a lot of concerns and we’ve expressed the need to maintain these roads better and make some investments in these northern roads but that has not happened,” Belanger said.

There is currently no estimated timeframe on when the highway repairs will be completed.

meadowlakeNOW reached out to the ministry to discuss if a bridge is possible but did not receive a call back before the deadline.

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nikita.ganovicheff@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @Nikitaganov