Bridges main focus of LLB County’s $1.1M in stimulus money

County pitching in $1.7 million to help complete projects with grant money on a timeline.

Lac La Biche County is receiving just over $1.1 million in Municipal Stimulus Funding to go towards five projects in the area.

During last week’s council meeting, the projects were chosen and they include four bridge replacements and the Plamondon Arena.

The four bridges are Gold River bridge, Uganecz bridge, Campsite road bridge, and Nashim drive bridge. The money that is going towards the Plamondon Arena, which is estimated to be $150,000, is going to help fix the siding.

There was some discussion at the meeting of whether the money could be spent elsewhere, but Lac La Biche Mayor, Omer Moghrabi, stands by the decision to move forward with the bridges and the Plamondon Arena.

“One of the things that we have encountered here for the last three or four years, but really came to a head this year, was the flooding that we had that showed us some of our weak spots,” said Moghrabi.

“We found that some of the bridges and culverts took such a beating with the extreme flooding that happened.”

The County will only be granted the stimulus funding if they use the total amount of the funding and they have to start the projects sometime within the next year.

Since they have to spend the full amount, there are additional costs the County has to make up for which is said to be roughly $1.7 million.

Having the bridges fixed is a necessity for the community’s transportation, which is why Moghrabi believes it’s a good investment.

“If we don’t fix these bridges, we are going to limit access to some of the people, to their farmland, to their homes so that’s why we chose the four bridges, that’s why our administration put in those four,” said Moghrabi.

“The bridges allow for access to the people that need it. These are the things that are crucial for our transportation infrastructure.”