The County of Grande Prairie will be moving forward with two transportation infrastructure projects now that the necessary funding has been granted. The provincial government has granted it $1.278 million for a bridge culvert replacement and $750,000 for the La Glace water treatment plant.
The bridge culvert to be replaced is located in the Teepee Creek area and has been on the table for roughly two years. Reeve Leanne Beaupre says due to the amount of precipitation over the time frame, the amount of water flow through the culvert has become a localized issue. She added the County has also been discussing the development of a safe and reliable water source for several years and the approval of funding for a new water treatment plant is a timely announcement.
“We’ve seen some growth in the hamlet of La Glace [with the] senior’s facility as well as the recreation centre coming online, and then, of course, the La Glace fire hall,” she says. “The portion we’ve received from the province for the water treatment plant is going to be beneficial in not only providing that safe and reliable [water] source, but it’s also going to provide [an] opportunity for expanded growth.”
The provincial government says it is significantly increasing new investments in municipal infrastructure programs such as STIP in an effort to build and fix essential roads, bridges and other developments in rural communities.
“In discussion, recognizing that trying to put people back to work will help stimulate our economy and for the province to look at projects that are meaningful, important projects to municipalities that at one point they didn’t have enough funding for will help those municipalities because the funding is spread across the province not just isolated to one area,” notes Beaupre.
Beaupre explains the funding for both projects will cover roughly 75 per cent of their budgets. The County will be responsible for any remaining costs.