St. Albert is used to seeing spring thaws result in a few weeks of flooding of low-lying areas along the Sturgeon River.
But this year, water has continued to pool well into August due to sheer volume of rainfall, resulting in continued trail closures. Since April 1, St. Albert has seen 293 millimetres of precipitation, according to Alberta Climate Information Service.
City officials have kept low-lying sections of St. Albert’s trail network closed off since July 19, including all bridge underpasses and west of the trestle bridge.
“We get a surge in the river for two to three weeks in spring, then naturally it goes down again,” said acting director of utilities and environment Jay Mason. “This is not typical, to have the level it's currently sitting at this late in the year. Usually by August (the river is) quite a bit lower.”
Mason said cyclists and pedestrians can still get to where they need to go, it just involves some detouring to the next closest intersection.
“It is a bit of a detour for people but there is still the connectivity around the city.”
Because these areas are under water for a few weeks each year, the city’s transportation department does assess the paving structures of the low-lying areas annually. When asked if the yearly submersion results in higher repair needs, Mason said “probably not.”
He added there is not really anything the city can do about the yearly flooding on trails, because the city is constricted based on the elevations of the bridges.
The city is constantly monitoring water levels, and will make any required actions as deemed necessary, Mason said.
While opening of the affected areas is weather dependent, Mason said he is optimistic it will happen soon.
“We’re going to see some, for this first time this summer, a stretch of warm weather. So we’re hoping that will help bring down the levels a little bit.”
