This old bridge over the Athabasca River needs replacing. No one has the money.
CBC
A 78-year-old bridge in the hamlet of Smith, Alta., is at risk of collapsing into the Athabasca River, according to the local government, which can't afford to replace it.
Local leaders say the one-lane bridge, which is about 200 kilometres north of Edmonton and 70 kilometres east of Slave Lake, is important for the community and its economy but its replacement doesn't seem to be a provincial priority.
"This bridge has to be replaced — it's not a want, it's a need," said Murray Kerik, reeve of the Municipal District of Lesser Slave River.
Kerik said the bridge is the municipality's most important issue. It's also a longstanding one; his father, the area's first reeve, lobbied the province to replace it in the 1990s.
"That's kind of why we're putting more pressure on this time because we've been continually more or less just brushed off and ignored," he said.
The U.S. Army built the bridge during the Second World War as part of the construction of the highway between Alaska and Canada. The builders expected the bridge would last 75 years.
With damaged steel and a supporting pier that has been badly eroded by the river's current, the bridge is deteriorating and racking up repair bills.
The bridge used to be the provincial government's responsibility but it was transferred to the municipal district after Highway 2 was realigned in the 1970s and the road became a local one.
Last year, the municipal district spent more than $120,000 to partially replace the bridge's deck and further repairs would buy only a few extra years in life.
The municipal district is on the hook for the total replacement cost of $70 million.
According to the Canadian census last year, 227 people live in Smith and 2,861 live in the municipal district. Kari Richard, who lives north of the Athabasca River, worries about the inconvenience a bridge closure would cause, and the possibility of losing her job.
She crosses the bridge as a school bus driver every morning and gets water for her home from a station south of the river.
"Everything I do is across that river," she said.
Resident Sheila Willis wants to see a more modern bridge built, but she hopes the old one is saved and turned into a tourist destination.
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