County of Grande Prairie Councillor Corey Beck, Reeve Leanne Beaupre and GP-Wapiti MLA Travis Toews during the announcement of the funding at the La Glace Fire Hall (Photo: County of Grande Prairie)

By Shaun Penner

STIP Funding

County of Grande Prairie granted over $2 million for two infrastructure projects

Jul 9, 2020 | 5:20 PM

The provincial government has awarded the County of Grande Prairie just over $2 million in grant funding for two infrastructure projects.

The funding comes from the Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program, which will help fund a bridge culvert replacement near Teepee Creek and upgrades to the La Glace water treatment plant.

Grande Prairie-Wapiti MLA Travis Toews says these are two of 70 new projects across Alberta being funded through the program and are meant to aid in job creation and expansion of local infrastructure.

“These investments are all part of the greater economic recovery plan. We are accelerating spending on key infrastructure projects in communities across Alberta. These projects not only support long-term economic growth but also provide immediate jobs for Albertans.”

County Reeve Leanne Beaupre says the $750,000 in funding to help expand capacity at the La Glace water treatment plant comes at a key time, as the hamlet is seeing a lot of expansion and current capacity of the plant would not suffice.

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“We have, of course, the new fire hall coming online, as well as the seniors’ facility in La Glace, as well as the new rec facility,” said Beaupre. “Several of those will take a more increased amount of water.”

“This water treatment (upgrade) will actually help enhance the safety and reliability of the water supply.”

Beaupre says this is a project the County has had on the radar for the last 18 months to two years, as some area residents have told council that wells in the community were running low.

“There are several of the wells in the community that are shared amongst several houses. So, some of that is a concern that those individuals are running out of water,” said Beaupre. “These upgrades to the water treatment plant will certainly help with more water delivery to more individuals.”

Meantime, another $1,278,000 from the province will go towards a bridge culvert replacement south of the Teepee Creek fairgrounds. Beaupre says this bridge culvert was determined to be nearing the end of its life cycle about two years ago and adding the new culvert will help mitigate some significant issues.

“It will actually help with overland flooding that we’ve seen in the last three years, by allowing more volume (of water) to pass through it.”

Beaupre says they are hoping to put both projects out for tender as soon as possible, while hopefully being able to get started this construction season, though that timeline was not set in stone.