Town council has approved spending $40,000 to upgrade the culvert under the railway tracks near the intersection of 50th and 53rd streets.
The funding for the upgrade is part of a $100,000 replacement project that is being shared with Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which is picking up $60,000 of the total cost for the new culvert.
At council's regular meeting on Oct. 14, Craig Teal, the town's director of planning and operational services, said CPR is now in the process of replacing the culvert, which is part of the storm sewer system that drains the west portion of the downtown area.
Council was told the current culvert has a rupture that has been allowing gravel and silt to get into the pipe, creating obstructed flows. Teal said this has contributed to surface backup at the intersection over the past two years.
He said since CPR is already replacing the culvert under the railway, administration inquired about the possibility of increasing its size and capacity, which would improve the long-term functioning of the town's sewer system in the downtown area.
Council was told the current culvert is 650 millimetres wide and the maximum upgrade that can be made at the location is 750 mm, which would increase capacity from about 25 to 56 per cent.
Teal told council that funds for the culvert upgrade were not included in the 2014 budget but the $40,000 could be found from unused monies from the 42nd Street upgrade project, which came in under its initially projected $407,688 budget.
New street lights for 52nd Avenue
There will be six new street lights along the south end of 52nd Avenue between Woodland Road and Country Lodge.
At town council's Oct. 14 regular meeting, Craig Teal, the director of planning and operational services, said this section of 52nd Avenue does not have any street lights. He said town council had earlier approved $40,000 for the street lights but another $29,747 was needed due to new requirements for installation.
Council was told when FortisAlberta was called to begin installation it was discovered that due to where Telus had placed a new fibre optic line, an extensive hydro-vac is required to properly place the line in for the new street lights.
Teal said a budget adjustment was required to satisfy all requirements for the installation, and that the extra monies can be found from unused funds from the 42nd Street upgrade project.
Council unanimously approved the request for extra funding.
