Plum Coulee broke ground last Wednesday on a new pedestrian bridge that will join the two halves of the community.
Project leaders, supporters, and dignitaries gathered at the end of Centre Ave. to symbolically begin work on the bridge spanning the Hespler Drain, which cuts off the south side of the community from the north.
“It’s been a long, long time since we started this, since we had this idea,” said committee member June Letkeman, sharing it’s been about four years of lobbying, fundraising, and planning to get to this point. “We need a pedestrian bridge here. It’s a necessary thing that we have this bridge to join the sides of our town, somewhere for the children to walk safely.”
There have long been safety concerns about the temporary bridge currently in place (and arguments with the Province on whether it should be removed entirely), Letkeman noted, and the only other way to get across is a busy traffic bridge on Provincial Road 306 or walking down Hwy. 14—neither of them particularly safe options for pedestrians or cyclists.
“It’s been a journey, but here we are,” she said, sharing that they’ve raised nearly $300,000 of the estimated $420,000 needed for the project—enough to get it started—and have no doubt the remaining money will come in as work begins. “People have just been so generous.”
Committee member Kyle Wiebe has been overseeing some of the engineering work on the bridge. He says the plan is to get Phase 1 underway this year.
“Right now we’re busy working with a great team of engineers,” he says. “They’ve completed our geotechnical assessment for the project and they’re currently working on the hydraulic and hydrological assessment for the project.
“Once the engineering’s in place, which should be fairly shortly, it’s going to go to a great team of public servants with MTI [Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure], since we’re working with a provincial waterway here, and we’ll get the final approvals from them and then construction is going to happen immediately afterwards.”
Getting the foundation in is part of the first phase, Wiebe noted. The rest of the bridge will be built in 2024.
Rhineland Reeve Don Wiebe lauded Letkeman and her fellow committee members for all their work on this.
“I think it’s paid off,” he said. “Thanks to all of you and to the community for supporting this project.
“It has a purpose of connecting people … we’re looking forward to seeing its completion.”
