The City of Kenora wants help from the province to pay for bridge replacement and maintenance.
Kenora Mayor Andrew Poirier told the Standing Committee on Finance the cost of replacing even one bridge is prohibitive.
“We cannot afford to…even the bridge we’re looking at…a replacement of that bridge, which is not a large one…is probably going to be in the $30 to $40 million range,” Poirier told the Standing Committee on Finance in their recent pre-budget consultations in Kenora last week.
“Which means the city has to leverage that money.”
Poirier says the city has 21 bridges, and this is not the first time the city has made the request for more money for its bridges.
“I’m the third mayor here advocating for steady funding in order for us to repair them. I can tell you right now, we have one (bridge) closed down as a month ago.”
Poirier says the city no longer gets Connecting Link funding from the province and says that would help do more bridge and road repairs.
