Cutbanks Road realignment set to start next year; Old Ferry Road residents will soon get a say on what realignment looks like for them

Two roads in Woodlands County, which suffered immensely in last year’s flooding events, are
getting closer to being fixed up. Approximately 300 meters of Cutbanks Road, east of the tube
put in, and approximately 350m of Old Ferry Road, between Range Road 124B and Range
Road 125, were significantly damaged when the McLeod River swelled, overtaking land and
washing away large portions of the riverbank.
Since the flood, barriers have been in place to highlight the danger. Woodlands County hired a
consultant to provide short-, medium and long-term solutions to fix the erosion at both sites.
During Woodlands County Council’s July 17 meeting, Jeff Zhang, Director of Infrastructure
Services, provided the consultant’s options.
Seven options were developed and evaluated for the Cutbanks Road, which included closing
the road, doing nothing, building a new road, rebuilding the slope to pre-flood condition, bio-
engineering the section or building a sheet pile retaining wall. Each option had a different life
expectancy and the approximate cost to the County.
The sheet pile retaining wall, as one example, had a life span of 30 to 50 years, one of the
longest, for eight million, with annual maintenance of $5,000. Building a new road had a lifespan
of 50 years, for 1.3 million. Rebuilding the slope and replacing the land that washed away was
estimated at $1,635,000. However, the lifespan was only ten years, and annual maintenance
could cost up to $25,000.
The consultant provided fifteen options for Old Ferry Road with a similar cost/lifespan
breakdown. Several of the options had to do with realigning the road. One option was to realign
it 20m parallel to the existing alignment for 2.9 million. Though the impact on land and residents
would be far less, Zhang explained that doing this option would last no more than five years and
that the next flood would wipe it out.
Other options included closing the section of the road along the affected area and removing the
loop functionality but with a substantially lower residential impact or realigning it using existing
subdivision roads, with a greater impact on landowners. The consultants also said a sheet pile
retaining wall was an option. However, similar to the Cutbanks Road, the cost was high, at just
over $17,000,000. The highest option provided was rebuilding the bank and using a Gabion
Basket MSE wall (rock-filled metal cage partitions), which would set the County back over 23
million bucks and cost up to $35,000 per year in maintenance.
Zhang explained that both projects, Cutbanks and Old Ferry, were identified in the provincial
government’s Disaster Recovery Program (DRP). “The DRP is intended to be a cost-
reimbursement, after construction, to fund the restoration of damaged assets back to their pre-
disaster functional state. Administration has been in regular communications with the province
on this project.”
He said they did not have a funding guarantee but that the province could fund close to
$1,635,000 for Cutbanks Road and up to $2,400,000 for Old Ferry Road. The funding would
cover most of the cost of both recommended fixes from the list. For Cutbanks Road, Zhang
recommended building a new road rather than trying to fix the current one and chance another

flood damaging it again. A road rebuild to the south of the current road would cost $1,300,000,
well under the expected provincial funding threshold.
Pre-tender engineering services would cost roughly $100,000, and post-tender engineering
services would cost about $150,000. The cost of property acquisition was not disclosed in the
meeting and would be budgeted. A $250,000 budget had previously been set aside. Zhang
recommended that the Council use $100,000 of it for pre-tender services. The remaining
$150,000 could be used for the same pre-tender services for the Old Ferry Road project, as
explained below.
Councillor Bruce Prestige asked what would happen to the old Cutbanks Road once the new
one was in place. “If we move the road, the old road can either be left in place, and we could do
a land exchange with one of the neighbouring landowners, or we could reclaim it. That’s a
decision later for the Council to make,” answered Zhang. Though reclaiming it was an option, he
did not recommend it. “The road does provide some value in flood mitigation,” he said.
Councillor Alan Deane wondered if the old road area could be used as a recreation site. “One of
the things that is not necessarily stressed within our Strategic Plan is an overall Recreation
Master Plan. Certainly, one of the deficiencies that’s been identified is public river access. I want
that out in the public forum again so that people understand there is not great access to that
river. It’s a great recreation river when it doesn’t flood.”
Council agreed on the costs for the Cutbanks Road project and, with their vote, greenlit a
rebuild to the south of the current road, with construction anticipated to begin next year,
following design consultations. “Administration will continue to engage the Province for funding
once there is a design and further clarity on funding,” added Zhang.
Old Ferry Road, however, was a different story. The options provided for rebuilding the roadway
saw surrounding residents losing large chunks of property with a potential new road mere steps
from homes it was once far from. Reeve Kusch asked if there had been any consultations with
area residents, to which Zhang said no. “If we go to re-route the road and there is substantial
pushback from residents on the impact to their properties, to be able to realign this and make it,
what is the Plan B behind that,” queried Reeve Kusch? Zhang said they would choose a
different option.
Councillor John Burrows joined the conversation. “There’s a fair bit of traffic on Old Ferry, and
this is a pretty significant realignment. I think we’re going to get a lot of pushback on L2C
(pictured). Just so that Council is aware. I don’t know how else to put it,” he said. Reeve Kusch
agreed and asked if public consultation could happen first. “I would like to make sure we’ve had
that type of consultation or discussion with the residents, especially the ones who may be
impacted by the road being moved through their property before we make a decision on this.”
Zhang said he supported having an open house to show residents the options. He asked that
the Council consider approving $100,000 for engineering so that they could have better
mapping. “Right now, it’s more of a line on a map. It’s not precise. If it’s agreeable to Council, I
would like to proceed with some quick engineering to show the impacts to different landowners.”
Woodlands County Council agreed. Public consultation will happen at an open house planned
for late summer. No date was set at the time of this writing. Affected residents on Old Ferry

Road are highly encouraged to attend and have a say on the future of the roadway, as land
acquisition will be part of it for several property owners, depending on the option chosen.
The cost to realign the road is an estimated $3,000,000, and the anticipated government
funding is roughly 2.4 million, leaving $600,000 for the County to cover. Zhang explained that
the DRP did not cover land acquisition costs, resulting in the remaining chunk. He said other
programs might fund land acquisition related to flood projects.