Rocky View County (RVC) administration is one step closer to developing an emergency access for West Bragg Creek, following an open house June 23 that gave residents the opportunity to provide feedback on potential routes.
“We were really just looking for general feedback from the public who attended, looking primarily at the initial routes that were selected from the emergency access management study,” said Byron Riemann, general manager of operations and infrastructure with RVC.
“We will still have to go back and do a technical evaluation of all of those routes.”
Currently, Riemann said, the only access to the West Bragg Creek area is by crossing the Elbow River at the Balsam Avenue Bridge. However, during times of catastrophic events such as extreme flooding or a forest fire, the crossing may be cut off – isolating the area with no emergency access route.
Riemann said this was an issue during the flooding the community experienced in 2013, and with the recent wildfire disaster in Fort McMurray, he said it is “paramount” to ensure residents have the ability to safely escape any imminent danger.
“We want to make sure everyone is aware of this project and that everyone has the opportunity to provide comments from the beginning, so that when we do make a recommendation based on technical findings, at least people understand where that’s coming from and how we will get to the final result,” he said.
According to Reimann, approximately 70 residents attended the first open house. With so much going on in the Bragg Creek area already, he said he was pleased with the turnout and glad to have received feedback on the options presented.
The study resulted in seven initial route options, some which pass through Tsuu T’ina lands and would require a negotiation. Other options would require construction of bridges crossing the Elbow River, which may be more expensive.
“Without that feedback from residents, the County would be in the position of potentially selecting a route that may be unfavourable,” he said. “Now that we’ve heard from people and they’ve provided feedback forms to our consultants, they can take that information back and start putting technical evaluations toward the roads that have been considered as potential opportunities.”
When these evaluations are completed, Riemann said, a second open house will inform residents of the findings and the project will move forward from there. Riemann said he anticipates this open house late this summer and expects the proposal to be presented to council by the end of this year or early 2017.
To view documents from the open house, including a map of all seven potential routes, visit rockyview.ca and look for “Bragg Creek Emergency Access” in the “Plans Under Review” section of the Building and Planning tab. A comment form is also available online.
