Repair work on Hantsport aboiteau to begin next week

Work will begin next week on a $4-million project to replace the aboiteau in Hantsport that failed more than a year ago.

The provincial government announced in January it would do the work. The final environmental permit required to begin the process was obtained this week.

Officials estimate the work will take five weeks to complete.

The former wooden box culverts will be replaced by two permanent concrete box culverts. An earthen berm will be restored after they're in place.

No more temporary fix

When the work was first announced, the plan was for a temporary fix ahead of the spring high tides and then a permanent solution at a later date.

But Transportation Minister Lloyd Hines said his department decided to bypass the temporary step once engineers were able to get into the water and inspect the site.

"When we were talking about what we were going to do there on a temporary basis we didn't have the full engineering investigation," Hines said.

Engineers quickly deemed temporary work not to be worthwhile, said the minister.

Hines said the new culverts will be 2.24 metres by 1.83 metres, the same size used in the past. Engineers do not expect the flow of water to be different than it was before the aboiteau failed.

Legal action still in play

The aboiteau was in place for 100 years before it failed near the end of 2017. Since then, area residents have expressed concerns and frustrations about flooding from the Halfway River that has damaged private property and roads, killed trees and other vegetation and has put the bridge leading into town at risk.

One of the delays in getting the structure repaired has been a dispute between the provincial government and the owner of the Windsor and Hantsport Railway Company over responsibility for the work.

A legal dispute between the two sides remains at a standstill. Hines said he'd hoped a resolution could have been reached by now, but he reaffirmed Friday it is the government's hope to eventually recoup the cost of repairs.

"We're not relenting on that."

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