CALGARY- The flood cleanup is well underway in many Calgary communities, but the city’s pathways and bridges continue to be symbols of the devastation.
Bridges along the Elbow River were completely destroyed, including one linking Sandy Beach and River Park, and one that connects the community of Rideau to Elbow Drive. A suspension bridge along Sifton Boulevard remains a crumpled mess, still littered with bushes and trees.
“Our plan right now is to get the debris down, and across the river to make it safe for river users and the rest of the public,” explains chief structure engineer Craig MacFarlane.
The costs of replacing the three bridges along the Elbow River is pegged at about $10 million. They should be removed by the fall, with construction set to start next summer—at the earliest.
Meantime, the roads department continues to repair infrastructure, such as Heritage Drive under Glenmore Trail, which is scheduled to reopen next week.
Recovery Director Gordon Stewart says he’s proud of how far the city has come.
“It really hits you that this is your city, and this is really bad, you know, and people are relying on you to get it back together,” he says. “Now you sit back and look at the work that Calgary Roads did, Calgary Transit and the rest of the transportation department did in pulling it together.
You feel really good about it, that people were relying on you, and we came through.”
He adds it will likely be years before Calgary fully recovers.
Comments