Work is to be finished by the end of March on pedestrian bridges connecting the Central Alberta Regional Trail.
With support from the Town of Ponoka and Lacombe County, members of the Central Alberta Regional Trail Society are guiding construction of bridges crossing the Blindman River, south of Blackfalds and the Battle River inside Ponoka town limits.
Construction of both projects has to be finished by the end of March to qualify for federal economic stimulus grants announced last fall, said Ponoka town councillor John Jacobs, one of the key figures in the trail project.
Footings for the Ponoka bridge were placed last fall and a local welding shop has been building the five sections. They are to be welded together at the site, likely on Feb. 3, said Jacobs.
A crane has been arranged to put the sections in place, but whether it goes ahead will depend on the weather, he said.
CARTS president Debbie Olsen, who has been more closely involved with the Blindman River project, said the group has set a tentative date to bring military engineers from reserve units in Calgary and Edmonton to build the bridge deck.
The group hopes to be able to arrange a safe viewing area for people to watch progress on the deck, which will be part of a military exercise, said Olsen.
Ponoka could not get military engineers because its construction work will be underway at the same time as Blindman, said Jacobs.
Military engineers are fully occupied in Haiti and Afghanistan, so they were unable to offer enough people for both projects, he said.
The Blindman bridge will be the second trail bridge military engineers have built in Alberta, he said.
The two bridges are part of a long-term plan to build a 70.6-kilometre, multi-use trail between Ponoka and Penhold as part of the Trans Canada Trail Network.
Bridges are going up right away, even though large segments of the Central Alberta trail have not been put in place, said Jacobs. The trail will have to cross some rivers, so organizers felt it imperative to get the bridges in place first, he said.
At this point, the section from the south side of Ponoka to the Lacombe County boundary is now ready for use, with further construction to take place over time.
Support for the Ponoka bridge has included donations of public and privately-owned land to give access to the bridge, said Jacobs.
The Ponoka project has received $185,000 in federal money through the National Trails coalition, $85,000 from Trans Canada Trail and $100,000 from Alberta Trail Net.
The Blindman project has received $50,000 through the National Trails Coalition,
$100,000 from Alberta Trail Net and $50,000 from Lacombe County.
CARTS is seeking additional funding to start building a trail from the new bridge to the town of Blackfalds.
bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com