Representatives of Saskatchewan’s rural municipalities passed a resolution last week asking the provincial government to increase its funding caps on infrastructure.
The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities met in Saskatoon for the 2014 mid-term convention.
SARM wants the provincial government to raise its funding caps for road and bridge construction maintenance. The resolution asks for the annual cap to be increased from $750,000 to $1 million.
Ongoing wet years and excessive rainfall are taking a toll on the province’s roads and bridges, said Ray Orb, SARM’s acting president.
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“Definitely there’s been areas of the province that have been hit pretty hard by the extreme amount of rainfall,” he said.
“It seems that generally there’s a problem somewhere every year in the province with bridges.”
Orb said higher construction costs and delays caused by wet conditions are putting pressure on RMs to complete project’s within their budgets.
“If we don’t convince the province to give us more funding into MREP (Municipal Roads for the Economy), then there will most likely be fewer projects that will be completed,” he said.
“I’m sure there’s a long list of applicants through the MREP.”
RMs are responsible for maintaining 1,625 bridges in the province, which does not include bridges in towns, private bridges and bridges within First Nations boundaries. Most of the bridges are in northeastern Saskatchewan.
Municipal bridge engineer Daniel Segal said a new bridge will last twice as long as a large diameter culvert but costs twice as much.
“None of the RMs want to fork out half a million dollars when they can put $100,000 or $200,000 in a culvert,” he said.
“The culverts will only last about 30 to 35 years before they rust out and you have to put a new one in.”
Culverts have also been failing more than bridges because of excess moisture, he added.
Orb said municipalities continue falling behind with their road and bridge upgrades and repairs, which increases the cost.
“Definitely there’s a certain amount of catch up,” he said.
“The longer you delay the projects, the more money it costs to get them done and the more behind you get.”
Orb said SARM has proposed the public-private (P3) funding model to address the shortfall. It would work in conjunction with Canada’s national building fund, in which a private company could invest along with federal, provincial and municipal governments.
“What we asked for was $40 million a year over four years so the total would be $160 million. It’s more a long-term program,” he said.
“So the two programs should run in conjunction with each other. It would help up catch up a little sooner. That would be a win-win for SARM. It would be a win-win for the province, too.”
William.dekay@producer.com
