Updated preliminary options have been determined for the Bragg Creek Emergency Access project, which Rocky View County (RVC) and Tetra Tech EBA have been working on since spring.
The new information has been posted to the County’s website, and administration is currently collecting further input from area landowners.
“Since we kicked off the project in May, we presented some preliminary options to the community at a public open house in June,” said Angela Yurkowski, municipal engineer with RVC.
“We also presented a large set of evaluation criteria – all the different parameters and constraints that we felt were critical for assessing what the best emergency access and evacuation route.”
Currently, residents who live in west Bragg Creek have only one way in or out of the community, via the Balsam Avenue bridge.
In the event of a catastrophic or emergency situation, Yurkowski said, access could be temporarily shut off or closed – like in 2013, when Bragg Creek endured extreme flood conditions.
“It’s extremely important for that community to not only have a way to exit the area, but also for emergency responders or vehicles to enter the area in the case of an emergency,” Yurkowski said.
“Each route has its own challenges and constraints associated with it, like crossing Tsuu T’ina land or constructing a bridge across the Elbow River.”
To help assess which route would provide the most effective solution, Yurkowski said RVC and Tetra Tech EBA have been working with area residents and landowners – who have the most expertise about the community and the needs of the people who live there.
“We have received a lot of different input from area residents and have started putting all of the preliminary evacuation routes through a detailed evaluation to come up with some further information to share with the community,” Yurkowski said.
“We are getting closer now to completing these evaluations, and will be having a second open house in early 2017 to present the results and the recommendations from the consultant.”
There are currently 11 options being evaluated and Yurkowski said once the information is available to the public, RVC will start collecting further input from the community based on what recommendations are made.
Currently, the project is only looking at functional planning as to what the preferred route could be.
“Something we have heard from the community is that the infrastructure cost is important, so that is something we’ve kept in mind,” Yurkowski said.
“We welcome any additional feedback and encourage residents to take part in the next open house, because there is a lot of local area knowledge in Bragg Creek and that’s something we see a lot of value in.”
Information about the Bragg Creek Emergency Access study is available at rockyview.ca in the Building and Planning section, under Plans Under Review.
