Photo: County of Grande Prairie

By Liam Verster

Spring Creek

Spring Creek Rd. to be driveable by this winter: County

Oct 9, 2019 | 7:14 AM

A section of Township Road 711 that has been closed for several months will be operational before the winter season.

Spring Creek Road has been compromised by years of snow and rain, and has become a slide area. Part of the road has now slid down and started to block off the bridge culvert in the stream below.

Public Works Director Dale Van Volkingburgh says they are looking for contractors to begin the first stage of repairing the area.

“We have to take the pressure off of the soil, so that it doesn’t create a blockage for the spring flows. Then next summer we’ll complete the replacement of the culvert and all the works. So this is just moving some soil off of the slope so we can take pressure off.”

He says the next phase, repairing the bridge that spans Spring Creek, has to wait for federal permits from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. He says they will likely receive the permits over the summer, but in the meantime they are just removing the soil and repairing the road with gravel.

Meaningful Mementos

Remembering Someone You've Lost at Christmas

Dec 03, 2024

Seasonal Sorrow

How Do You Get Through The Holidays When You're Grieving?

Nov 01, 2024

Upcoming Events at Oliver's

Grief & Loss and Estate Planning Seminars

Oct 02, 2024

Van Volkingburgh says once the contract is picked up, the work shouldn’t take too long to complete.

“The contractor can enter for this phase of it just to remove the soil. We assume it will take about two weeks to do this, and then we can reopen the road at least for the winter at a restricted speed and those type of things. We won’t be repaving the road, we’ll just be making it gravel so the traffic can commute through there in the winter.”

Talks with contractors are already in the works, and Van Volkingburgh expects a deal to be made in the coming weeks, with construction beginning shortly after.

The cost of the road work is estimated at $350,000, which will come from a $5,000,000 budget allocated from the County for the entire project, that will also see the bridge repaired.