Lethbridge city council received an update on the possibility of a third bridge in the city this week. A non-binding question appeared on the last municipal election ballot, asking whether residents would like to see council approve an additional river crossing and 60.41 per cent said yes.
An updated review from city staff and Stantec was presented to council on Oct. 11, which noted the location at Chinook Trail, which would connect University Drive West with Scenic Drive, is still the preferred option. The review was sparked by a request from council last year to review a report from 2009.
“We are not dealing with the issue today, we are dealing with it 10 years in the future, 20 years because we know it takes that long to do a design, get funding approvals, get provincial environmental approvals and allocate all of that time and money to do the right thing relative to any road construction,” said Darwin Juell, the city’s transportation manager.
The review predicts a third bridge will be needed between 2030 and 2040, based on the city’s travel demand model in its transportation master plan. If built at the Chinook Trail location, it is estimated to cost around $190 million, according to the city.
The city says a third bridge could result in tax increases for residents of between 14.5 and 22.1 per cent.
“There is no indication that the bridge is needed as we sit here today other than a number of people feel that it’s needed — but from a traffic point of view it is not needed,” said Councillor Rajiv Dodic. “My simplistic question is if you were to curtail or severely reduce the residential development on the west side and focus more on the north and south side, would that not obviate the necessity of the bridge at least for some significant period of time?”
Juell said it could, but stopping development on the west side would have other implications and could leave developers upset. Councillor John Middleton-Hope questioned what problem the bridge would solve and noted it could be better to look at the reason people are moving from one side of the city to the other.
“There is under development in terms of commercial use and although councillor Dodic and I come at this from perhaps a different perspective, I think the end result is, I don’t believe there is a need at this time or in ten years from now for a third bridge,” Middleton-Hope said. He noted there is a lack of services on the west side, which creates more need for travel. “At the end of the day if those services are located on the west side of the city, it reduces the need to move to the south side of the city.”
Juell said in addition to alleviating congestion, a third bridge could enhance safety for drivers. He noted there were two times in the last 15 years where both existing river crossings were shut down because of severe weather events.
“We know we are a medium sized city so people like to live in the south and work in the north or work in the south and work in the west and it’s a 20 minute drive across the city so the reality is people don’t worry about where they work versus where they live in a smaller city like this. We just have to accommodate the congestion and make sure it is as safe as possible,” Juell said.
The city says a better estimate of cost will be determined when a preliminary design is complete. This is scheduled for 2027.
