Finlayson Island north-span pedestrian bridge had a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the re-opening ceremony Friday. Town of Battleford Mayor Ames Leslie, bottom left, and Justine Meyers of Associated Engineering, bottom right, at the opening address. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Re-opening ceremony

Finlayson Island pedestrian bridge officially re-opens

Jul 21, 2023 | 2:12 PM

It was time to celebrate Friday as dignitaries and local residents came together for the re-opening ceremony for the Finlayson Island north truss bridge, for use by pedestrians and cyclists.

The bridge travels over the North Saskatchewan River between North Battleford and Finlayson Island.

“It’s a very important day for the Town of Battleford because this project was a pretty big undertaking,” Battleford Mayor Ames Leslie said.

He noted Battlefords MLA Jeremy Cockrill advocated for the town, asking the province for funding for the project. The local First Nations chiefs also sent letters of support, which helped the town access federal funding for the initiative.

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Work on rehabilitating the north bridge started in April of 2022 and was completed in June of 2023.

Justine Meyers, of Associated Engineering, said the work included replacing the jump span at one end of the bridge that was impacted by erosion, installing concrete matting to protect the slopes of the bridge, and armouring the embankment that was eroding. New guardrails were also installed. Some associated work on the south bridge was also done. Following recommendations from Associated Engineering, the project was completed by Hipperson Construction of Regina.

The project was funded jointly through the Town of Battleford, the province and the federal government, and came in under budget.

The full cost of the project was $3.6 million, with the town paying $1,091,000, and the remaining $2,543,000 funded jointly by the federal government ($1,387,320) and the province ($1,155,984).

“I’m glad to announce that in today’s economy, we were able to find some efficiencies and we were still able to keep it under budget,” Leslie said. “Both the federal government and the province are appreciative of that. And so are we, because if we are over budget the town pays 100 per cent of that overrun. So council is quite happy it stayed within budget.”

Leslie noted there are no current plans for upgrade work at this time for the south vehicular bridge, which also requires some improvements but was in better condition than the walking bridge.

“We’ll stay in contact with the engineers, and we’ll do yearly checks and maintenance on it. If a time comes where the urgency has been increased as to the repairs that are required, then we will address it then,” he said. “Council does have a small amount of money set aside [for] the need if be. Then, we’ll look to see if there is any more funding available if we have to do a large-scale upgrade to that bridge as well.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow