With a price tag of $53.5 million, the Bow River bridge and James Walker Trail twinning project is moving forward on budget and on time with a slated opening in the fall of 2020. Project leads from the Town of Cochrane, including engineering overseers Urban Systems, RJC and construction lead PCL Construction took the media on a site tour to get an inside glimpse at how the project is shaping up – including taking a look from the south side of the river. Jason Whitney, superintendent with PCL Construction, explained that the current process of drilling and installing concrete pilings is roughly one-third of the way through – with a total of 30 pilings, including eight in the river itself; the deepest pilings are 24 metres in drill depth. “Once the pilings are complete at each of the four locations, then we start the sub-structure for the bridge,” he explained, adding that the construction crossing the water won’t take place until mid-spring, when the girders are in place. So far, there have been no unforeseeable challenges and construction will carry on through the winter months. “There’s always challenges, but we have strategies in place to deal with them,” said Rick Deans, senior manager of infrastructure for the town, confirming that drilling is the biggest “risk stage” and that once out of the ground, “you’re on the blueprints.”
Bridge Naming
Mayor Jeff Genung and Dan Kroffat, community advocate, local philanthropist and retired celebrity wrestler were also on the tour. Kroffat has taken an interest in the public naming process of the major project. The public voting phase that was on the town’s interactive website, letstalkcochrane.ca, has now closed and council will be presented a short list of top names as voted on by several hundred online survey participants. That list is expected to appear at the Nov. 12 council meeting. Acknowledging that there are “many great options” available, Kroffat lent his two cents that he is supportive of naming the bridge after Jack Tennant – the late publisher of the Cochrane Eagle, celebrity newspaper philanthropist and advocate who died at the age of 82 earlier this year. “For me, personally, I like Jack Tennant Way. Jack was a guy who built bridges and he built them his whole life,” said Kroffat, citing Jack’s work with nearby Stoney-Nakoda First Nation, his dedication to the Alcoholics Anonymous community, his ability to connect the people with politicians and his work in journalism as a columnist and publisher. There has also been a suggestion to include Jack’s Stoney name “Tatag a Tawachi Thnigan,” (Giant Gentle Buffalo) should the bridge be named after him.
