The biggest ticket sponsorship item for the Rails to Trails project, the $125,000 Midland Bridge, has been fully supported by the families of Darrell and Dean Kohut, and Heather and Kelly Colberg, and will be renamed Kohut Crossing.
This is the second major sponsorship announced for the project, and the first bridge to be sponsored.
“It’s a really nice legacy to leave for our parents (John and Irene) and our brother (John Jr.) who are no longer with us,” Darrell Kohut said.
The Kohut and Colberg families were inspired to sponsor the bridge because of their own personal family history, and a desire to look for a significant way to honour the memories of John and Irene and the contributions they made to the community during their lives.
“Our parents lived in Midland, and my grandma was actually going to lose her house for taxes to the Town,” Mayor Colberg shares. “So, Dad and Mom moved from Midland to Newcastle (across the bridge), and they took over my dad’s family home.”
She adds the family home is where the pair began Hi-Way 9 Express in 1969.
The Midland Bridge was originally built by CN Rail around 1911, spanning across the Red Deer River between the communities of Midland to the north and Newcastle to the south. Freight trains hauling grain and coal from the mines travelled across the bridge on their journey between Saskatoon and Calgary.
While the railway tracks are still in place, it has been many years since the bridge was operational, and the bridge deck is currently obstructed with large concrete blocks which were placed to help stabilize the structure from fast flowing floodwaters in 2013.
Mayor Colberg says the Rails to Trails project will be “very significant” for the Drumheller Valley and will help attract people to the community, and Midland Bridge-now Kohut Crossing-will once again provide a crucial connection across the Red Deer River for the community.
