County bridge infrastructure under evaluation for repair, replacement

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Discussion is ongoing within Wheatland County regarding their Bridge and Culvert Asset Management Plan and how best to proceed with maintenance and replacement efforts. 

The county completed their 2025 Master Asset Management Plan in June 2025, a document being the first of its kind that dictates a framework to support infrastructure planning and sustainability. 

As part of this, the county has been required to review local bridge and culvert infrastructure. Several previous reports to the county have indicated several structures which are nearing the end of their service lives and are in need of replacement. 

“The county’s bridge and bridge culvert inventory has a replacement cost of about $181.5 million. This is up pretty significantly from the figure we presented last year at $120 million that our consultants used,” said Konrad Goral, AM and GIS specialist. “The county owns and manages about 72 bridges and 192 bridge-sized culverts – a total of 263 bridge assets. This is an updated number … it is actually down from last year. We came up with some figures that were unmaintained by the county.”

Approximately 82 per cent of the county’s bridge and culvert asset inventory was determined to be in fair or better condition. However, the remaining inventory, representing $32.5 million in assets, will need to be replaced in the immediate to short term.

A risk analysis of the bridge asset portfolio revealed that 43 per cent of the county’s bridges fall into a “very high” risk category, though this is largely due to if a failure occurs, it would have major consequences to the local transportation network.

“Some of the elements and components of those structures may be candidates for replacement or rehabilitation in the medium term and should be monitored for further degradation,” said Goral. 

He added the county’s assets with a poor or worse rating are not necessarily unsafe for use and may remain available for use for the time being. 

Based on the current reports, it is projected that the county should anticipate an annual capital expenditure of approximately $8.8 million over the next decade. 

Over the next five years, $47.6 million is projected for major bridge and culvert replacements required of the immediate term. 

The following five years are projected for $40.9 million in expenditures for lower priority projects.

A total of $9.8 million had been budgeted in 2025 for bridge infrastructure, and $8.6 million was annotated for 2026. These are targeted toward 24 projects, largely being to replace structures constructed around 1966.

The county accepted the report presented during the March 3 meeting as information, aiming to solidify any decisions during later council meetings.