Repairs to the North Entrance Bridge in Big Valley was one of the topics of discussion during the village’s regular council meeting on Thursday, September 24.
County of Stettler and the village are working together to advocate to Alberta Transportation, who own the bridge, to complete the much needed repairs.
“The County of Stettler has currently contacted Alberta Transportation to advocate on behalf of the county and the Village of Big Valley that this bridge be repaired as soon as possible,” said Sandra Schell, Chief Administrative Officer for Big Valley.
Although the bridge is owned by Alberta Transportation, the County of Stettler has been in charge of inspections. During one of these routine inspections it was discovered there was deterioration of the bridge structure.
In December 2019 weight restrictions and a 10 tonne load advisory were placed on the bridge.
Discussion was brought up during a County of Stettler council meeting earlier this year, in March, and reports outlining the condition of the bridge were sent to Alberta Transportation for review. However, as there is another entrance to the village available, Alberta Transportation has deemed repairs a “low priority” and have recommended the county or the Village of Big Valley to apply for the Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program (STIP) in November.
“This is an estimated million dollar project,” Schell told the Mail.
If approved, the grant would cover 75 per cent of the cost to repair or replace the bridge, leaving either the county or village to come up with the other $250,000.
The County of Stettler is completing applications and updating inspection reports for the STIP grant funding. Big Valley council unanimously approved supporting this application.

The Drumheller Fire Department has taken on acting as Medical First Responders to provide the needed service to the community.
In June of last year, the Mail reported the department was signing on to the provincial program. The Medical First Responder Program provides training and some supplies to the local fire departments and they are able to provide medical support when responding to calls.
“We signed up so citizens were not without some medical care when needed,” said Fire Chief Bruce Wade.
He says this allows the department to deliver first aid to people who may have been injured during a fire call. The department has been doing this for years, however, signing on with the Medical First Responder Program formalizes the arrangement.
The department is also paged out on calls when there is no ambulance able to respond within 20 minutes. These are for delta and echo calls, which are serious medical conditions, the department is not able to transport.
Alberta Health Services (AHS) has developed a model for Medical First Response. There is a number of agencies such as volunteer fire departments across the province that participate in the program to deliver a medical response. This model provides provincial standards for medical first response delivery, support for the agencies providing the response, and ensures safe patient care with medical oversight and patient care guidelines.
He says many of the Drumheller firefighters in all halls have basic first aid and AHS replenishes supplies that are used. AHS has also supplied the department with a new portable defibrillator.